Diane Guerrero My Family Divided: One Girl's Journey of Home, Loss, and Hope
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Confession: Didn't know this was the edition for younger readers when I entered the giveaway.. my bad haha.
The adept: Her personal story is compelling, my heart broke for her and her family unit and what they had to suffer. I think she was brave for sharing her personal story, including all the warts and fears. I love how passionate she is in her activism as well and I admire her for keeping on figh
I won a copy via Goodreads giveaways in exchange for an honest review. All my opinions are my own.:)----
Confession: Didn't know this was the edition for younger readers when I entered the giveaway.. my bad haha.
The practiced: Her personal story is compelling, my heart broke for her and her family and what they had to suffer. I call up she was brave for sharing her personal story, including all the warts and fears. I love how passionate she is in her activism as well and I admire her for keeping on fighting.
The bad/so-so/indifferent: The comprehend analogy/drawing is nicely done, simply a scrap out of place. Perchance it's improve for the younger readers and all... merely think the creative team could accept done meliorate.
The writing is good but sometimes felt a niggling awkward in this edition. I'm assuming some of those may accept been re-written for its intended audience? Information technology didn't pull me out of the narrative, only it did cross my heed from time to time.
The last affiliate seemed out of place with the rest of the book. I'thou non wading into any political waters here only information technology seemed to stand up out in Vibe from the rest of the volume (may have been the intention).
Worth the read, and I appreciate winning information technology but won't be buying a copy for myself.
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Actress Diane Guerrero'due south begetter and mother came to the Us from Colombia in the 1980s in order to brand a improve life for themselves and for their son. They came on a xc day tourist to visit a sister and did not leave. While they struggled, they were able to agree downwardly jobs and have places to alive. They tried to obtain citizenship, but were thwarted by the bureaucracy, besides as by a fraudulent lawyer who took a lot of money for little resul
ARC provided by publisher at ALA MidwinterActress Diane Guerrero'due south father and mother came to the Us from Republic of colombia in the 1980s in order to make a ameliorate life for themselves and for their son. They came on a xc twenty-four hour period tourist to visit a sister and did non leave. While they struggled, they were able to concord down jobs and have places to live. They tried to obtain citizenship, but were thwarted by the bureaucracy, also equally past a fraudulent lawyer who took a lot of money for petty results. Diane was born in the The states and struggled a bit in school, but had a solid group of friends and enjoyed her life in Boston, eventually attending a performing arts school that got her started on her style to her eventual renown for television shows like Orange is the New Black and Jane the Virgin. When she was xiv, her parents were arrested and deported. Luckily, she was able to stay with family friends, and fifty-fifty managed to go to a very nice private college, only her family's state of affairs was never resolved to her satisfaction. The book, which has a few black and white pictures of Guerrero, her family unit, and friends, shows the consequence this had on her.
Strengths: This was a fast paced look at how immigration laws afflicted one family that also talks a scrap well-nigh how this is a more than and more mutual experience in the US.
Weaknesses: I wish that the cover were a photo instead of an illustration, since this is nonfiction. I'm not sure how many children will be familiar with this actress.
What I really think: Will purchase this instead of Saedi's Americanized: Rebel Without a Green Carte du jour as a timely book on a topic of interest and as a read along for books like Restrepo'southward Illegal.
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For the audience that this is intended I urge parents to read this with them specially the harder parts. And talk about what it means for some children to actually live with this daily fright.
Cheers Diane for this book, cheers for sharing your story. I dear seeing you lot in OITNB and I will definitely pick up your other book also.
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The only real detraction was some of the writing style came off like information technology was trying too hard to sound young and hip. Otherwise a good read.
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For many of usa, the outcome of immigration is something nosotros tin discuss and debate, but for many American children, information technology is a harsh reality. Diane puts a confront and a story to the result. She too includes resources for immigrants and for others to get involved. Swell read!
Diane lives with other family members and friends as she attends a high school that emphasizes the arts. She gets admitted to an all women's college and falls into despair.
Although she visits her family in Colombia, her parents divorce, and she feels abandoned as well as unable to tell anyone h
Diane describes her upbringing, beingness raised in Boston by her parents and older brother. When she is 14 her parents are deported to Republic of colombia when it was discovered that they were living here undocumented.Diane lives with other family unit members and friends as she attends a high school that emphasizes the arts. She gets admitted to an all women'south college and falls into despair.
Although she visits her family unit in Colombia, her parents divorce, and she feels abandoned equally well as unable to tell anyone her story.
She becomes depressed, worries almost her family and money. She cuts and tries to accept her life.
She pursues her dreams of singing and acting. She details her large break in the role of Maritza on Orange is the New Black.
...more than The plot of this book goes in chronological order, besides the offset chapter that starts at her parents deportation, so the second chapter begins with her nascence and the book moves on from there. With the plot being ready this fashion you are able to see how dissimilar events affect the author and how each one adds another layer to who she is. With nonfiction books it's important to sympathise how the characters are affected because information technology's not an author making up the events and emotions, they really happened in someone's life.
This volume's setting changes as the book goes on. It starts in Boston where she is born and it moves around to Columbia where her parents and brother were deported to. Information technology follows her to New York and then to Brazil for a visit. This volume is set starting in 1986 and moves on through the years until 2016. It was a time for incertitude for illegal immigrants and how to motion forwards to get legal citizens.
In this book the label is done in a fashion that flows and nosotros are able to run across the events that shape the characters. From this we can make connections betwixt what has happened in the past and the choices that they made from those events. This is something unique for nonfiction because it's able to show real life events and how different people react to situation. In the volume it would have been easy for Diane to give up after her parents were deported and at times she almost did, only through personal strength she was able to brand it through high schoolhouse, college, and went on to take a successful career in TV.
The theme in this volume is to help others understand the struggles and fears of those who come here undocumented and the children of those people. Information technology also wants to aid other children in this same situation understand that they are not alone and there is hope. A lot of times the children have no 1 to talk to considering they effort to stay as secretive as they can about their situations at home considering of the fear that someone would come and take their family away.
I would definitely recommend this book. I was pleasantly surprised by home much I enjoyed this book. Information technology struck a chord with me considering I am a girl of a man who came here illegally and I saw him work and struggle to become legal and pursue his American dream. While I never had my father deported, seeing someone else's view on a subject field that means so much to me. There are some adult problems discussed in this book such as cutting, suicide, and depression. With that being said I believe that information technology's appropriate for younger kids if they are going through events similar to those the author went through since it can assist them non feel so alone.
There are many social issues that can be used to start a conversation. There is the subject area of clearing and how it affects people. At that place is the topic of going to see a therapist, something that is uncommon for a lot of Latino families. It'due south more common to just deal with issues alone then to see a famous Latina admit that she went to i to help with her depression and cutting is very inspiring. It also brings up the issue of what happens to the legal children of illegal immigrants subsequently they are deported.
This book is a memoir about Diane's life from childhood until her belatedly twenties that she uses in an effective manner to inform and educate those who read it to help them sympathise a situation that almost people never accept to go through.
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The story is relevant and of import to tell. Diane Guerrero tells the story of her parents and blood brother existence deported, leaving her, the sole citizen in the family unit, to fend for herself at a young historic period in a system that has forgotten about her. Information technology's important for children whose families are affected by immigration laws to read and see that they're non alone. It'south of import for children whose families are not aff
I wanted to like this volume. I really wanted to like this book. I did not like this book.The story is relevant and important to tell. Diane Guerrero tells the story of her parents and blood brother being deported, leaving her, the sole citizen in the family, to fend for herself at a young age in a arrangement that has forgotten almost her. It's important for children whose families are affected by immigration laws to read and meet that they're non alone. Information technology's of import for children whose families are non affected to read to empathise what their peers are going through. It's important for adults to read to sympathise what our inaction can do and is doing to families across the land.
That being said, the story telling leaves a lot to be desired.
It's difficult to follow.
The narrative is mostly told in chronological society, but jumps back and forth betwixt what's happening at home and at schoolhouse and in Columbia so ofttimes that it's difficult to follow. For example, The first couple pages of affiliate seven talk about this seemingly sudden need to detect a high schoolhouse. So, in a rather jarring transition - "Dorsum to Eric." - she'south talking almost her brother.
The slang is as well much
If you're writing a narrative that takes identify mainly in the 90s and 00s and want to use slang from the era, nifty! It may be kind of challenging for younger readers to figure out what all those words mean, but it's a proficient exercise in using context clues. Being the same age as the writer, I tin can certainly appreciate the slang of our childhoods.
"I strolled beyond the platform, careful to go along my Adidas fresh. They were and so dope>."
What doesn't work is jumping back and forth between that and mod slang. I admit that I have a personal vendetta confronting books that use hashtags and online acronyms (this book was guilty of at least one "LOL") in their narratives. Combining three decades worth of slang into one narrative fabricated my caput want to explode.
"Like all families, mine has #drama."
A bit about the self-impairment narrative
Information technology takes a great deal of strength to write about your struggles, to present them in a nonfiction book with your name attached, for all the earth to encounter. I loved reading about Diane's journey to accepting that she needed to observe help. My business here, is that the end of this section of the narrative came on and so quickly. The merely explanation of how she moved past depression was that she talked to a therapist and poured herself into her interim. I know it's not easy to put on the page, but I wish that she had gone deeper into what her healing procedure looked like. If yous're considering giving this volume to a kid or teenager, plan on having a conversation around this issue.
Final thoughts
I'd be curious to read the original version of this, written for adults and see if many of the problems I plant would exist resolved in the longer narrative.
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Things that made it score lower (for me):
-The cover is an illustration but the inside includes actual photos because it's a memoir. An illustration of a little girl is disruptive and takes away from what its genre/purpose. I idea at first it was an adapted novel not a younger version of the mem
Things that made it score lower (for me):
-The cover is an illustration merely the inside includes bodily photos because it's a memoir. An illustration of a little daughter is confusing and takes away from what its genre/purpose. I idea at showtime it was an adapted novel not a younger version of the memoir.
-At the end of the book information technology says 320 billion people live in the Usa, whoa there, it's million not billion.
-Most importantly, the writing style and discussion choice: it only felt forced in terms of trying to obsess or engage a younger reader. It used linguistic communication that I judge was meant to be cool, and I judge I'yard not cool ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.
Things that kept me reading considering dang did I read (less than 2 days):
-the content. The story is interesting--it'south compelling, it's existent.
-the pacing. It didn't dwell on moments or events, which I liked.
-the point of view. In every other immigrant/clearing narrative I read about the immigrant, the refugee, the undocumented person, the migrant, etc. It's their story and their ordeal. What this memoir does is requite credence to the fact that this is not an individual experience, it's familial, it'southward collective. Guerrero is a native born denizen, her family was a mixed household. She wasn't deported, but she lived in fright of it notwithstanding. That's different, and equally important to these stories.
I noticed in a lot of reviews people stated that the last chapter was unnecessary. I beg to differ. The last chapter is a call to action and a summary of resources. If you haven't been in her state of affairs, if you don't know people in like circumstances, if y'all're immature and reading nearly this and information technology is a lived reality that for once you get to accept a tangible connection to someone else in the same state of affairs, that terminal chapter is admittedly necessary. And if you think it's not, if y'all don't feel a call to action--the affiliate is entitled: Call to Action--then don't read that section, manifestly and elementary.
Overall, I liked it, but I suspect I will like the original, developed version improve. That existence said I would recommend it to a teenager or instructor of middle/loftier school students.
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I take personal problems with this story, only that isn't why I've given information technology ii stars. The writing quality is bones, repetitive, and deadening. There's very little grit and item. Just doesn't go deep enough into the stories of Diane's childhood. I craved details, just this book simply gives generalized descriptions of growing upwardly in America. I didn't feel the fear and shame she says she lived under through her childhood. That said, in that location aren't enough nonfiction narratives for kids, especially ones that are like shooting fish in a barrel to read. For schools that have teachers who rely heavily on the library's resources, I recommend this book.
I feel this topic could have been covered more effectively as historical fiction similar to books similar Front Desk-bound or It Ain't So Awful Falafel. I hope at that place is an author out there who will attempt it. For a ameliorate written case of a nonfiction narrative for kids I recommend I Am Malala: Young Readers Edition.
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Information technology is really important to become to know people instead of making a quick decision on a policy that doesn't involve anyone you lot know. It is of import to heed to stories of those who accept experienced incredible hardship and neglect. And it is important for their healing to be able to get those stories out. It is crazy that Dianne's parents were taken when she was xiv and NO 1 from the regime ever checked on her to run into if she had a place to live. Her story is middle-opening. I also appreciate her bravery in sharing her mental wellness issues and how she has gotten help for that. Of course most tweens and teens will pick this up because she is a famous glory now. Just I recollect this will be a very practiced read for tweens and teens from affectionate the family they have present to understanding what's going on in the world to being aware there is assist for mental health issues. It's not merely some celebrity autobiography; it's an of import read.
Notes on content: No language issues that I call back but there might have been some mild swearing and she mentions people using derogatory racial terms. (Oh, and there is on f bomb bleeped out.) No sexual content. Dianne mentions her struggle with cutting (no details) and a night she contemplated suicide. She likewise mentions partying only no details of what that entailed.
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This is the young readers' version of Diane Guerrero'south memoir In the Land We Love: My Family Divided. I plant the writing of this volume to be conversational, simply it annoyed me that information technology was filled with colloquialisms (for case, the liberal use of LOL and "dude"). I suppose middle schoolhouse readers may enjoy that, but I found information technology off-putting. Nevertheless, Diane'due south story is of import, and the last chapter includes a "call to activity" that will hopefully inspire many teens to become more politically active.
Recommended for gr. 6-9.
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Angie Thomas, writer of the book "The Detest U Give," ofttimes expresses how writing is an act of activism. Her point could not be more clear than after one has read "My Family Divided."
Every bit one who is born into privilege, I felt vulnerable reading this young adult nonfiction memoir. I felt guilty. I felt wrong for non existence threatened by government goons just because
"Backside every one of the headlines on deportation in that location is a family unit. Parents. Innocent children. Truthful stories that are rarely told" (4).Angie Thomas, author of the book "The Detest U Give," often expresses how writing is an human action of activism. Her signal could non be more than clear than after 1 has read "My Family unit Divided."
As one who is born into privilege, I felt vulnerable reading this young adult nonfiction memoir. I felt guilty. I felt incorrect for non existence threatened past government goons merely because of the mailing address of my nascence, when others are.
Nonetheless, after reading this book, I feel like I carry a new wealth of knowledge that I did non have beforehand. Now, it is my responsibility to deed upon that cognition and share it.
Diane Guerrero'south parents are taken, licked upward, and deported when she was only 14. Since that very age, she would acquire to fend for herself.
"When your mother and begetter were taken from you, you were forced to go your ain parent. That'south an enormous load that no fourteen-yr-old child should accept to carry" (178).
Guerrero too brings to calorie-free the very troubling fact about the United states of america pertaining to incarceration statistics.
"The agonizing truth is that the United States sends more people to prison than any other developed country, with more than two million people behind bars" (219).
From the courageous teachers in Arizona to struggles in the Hawaiian Islands, didactics is a hot topic all over the land these days. Diane illustrates the hardships of the atmospheric condition of public instruction in her customs.
"Standardized examination scores were oft below the National average. There were too few teachers and too many students. The building was so old and falling autonomously. There were seldom enough books or pencils to get around. Using her ain money, my 6th-grade English teacher once purchased a batch of screw notebooks" (43).
This memoir is so powerful, and truly illustrates the means in which issues are interrelated and exercise not exist in bubbling.
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