Oh man. What a powerful story that is more important than ever. This book follows a little girl and her grandmother and times they experience discrimination in public due to their Hispanic heritage. This book absolutely needs to be in libraries and in homes. Another review spoke on having an adult reading this book who can explain discrimination/racism and other concepts that are seen in this book, and I agree that that would be necessary. Great story with great illustrations.

Beautifully written and illustrated. Growing up with a Filipino mom, I can absolutely identify with these characters and their experiences. An honest display of the emotions both children and adults experience when faced with prejudice. Most importantly, the beauty and comfort of family and home!

The beautiful relationship between a child and grandparent.
Sadness at a sometimes cruel world that love overcomes.

"Abuelita and Me" tells the story of a little girl and her grandmother and the happy times they spend together. The story also describes the instances of rudeness and discrimination encountered by other people when they travel on public transportation. The book has lovely full color illustrations that add strength and character to the story. A child should enjoy this book with a loving adult who can explain why Abuelita and the little girl encounter such rudeness and talk about how to deal with such situations.

I received this book from the publisher and from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. The opinions included here are entirely my own.

A girl witnesses the racism toward her and her grandmother when outside the safety of their home.
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This is my first children’s book review. I found the pictures to be vibrant and easy to take in, and the words easy enough to understand, although the language could be a bit simpler. I enjoyed that a story I can relate to is available to share. It breaks my heart that this even happens in the first place, though. I wish the victorious moment was more impactful.

Rating: 4/5

I wish we did not need books for children about racism and how to handle it. Unfortunately, we do. This book is perfection. It can help children who experience racism know they are not alone and open the door for discussing their feelings. It can help children who may not know how racism feels learn to be more empathetic and to do what they can to not be racist. Highly recommended.

"Abuelita and Me" is a heartbreaking and realistic depiction of a girl and her grandmother facing racism when out in public. The book doesn't have a satisfying resolution or feature of a change of heart from the racist character within the story. This makes the story realistic and honest.

Beautifully illustrated and thoughtfully written from the perspective of a young girl witnessing cultural differences and racist remarks.
While I was exceptionally glad about how this book ended, I do wish that our young protagonist had been able to verbalize her feelings more to those around her or that her abuelita had been able to give her the words and understanding of why some things happen and what we can do about them.

This book was absolutely perfect. It handles the difficult and disgusting reality of racism while also providing hope and empowerment. The illustrations were gorgeous and added another layer of complexity. My kindergarten age child learned so much from this story (as did I) and we had an excellent discussion together about racism, judging others without knowing them, and how to stop discrimination when we see it.

This was such a good children's novel that focused on the perspective of a granddaughter and her abuelita. It covered their joy together when at home drawing pictures and when splashing puddles together outside! But it also covered the sad parts when outside together and strangers treat her abuelita terribly. And you see both of their strength and resilience in this story, despite such senseless racism and intolerance. I think this would be good to discuss themes of racism, family, and resilience with younger children.

The illustration style is absolutely gorgeous and beautifully helped tell the story.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author, illustrator and the publisher for an eARC of this title in exchange for an honest review.

A beautiful and sad story about a young girl facing racism in the world. It is so interesting to see this through a child's eyes, as you would think they would be the most innocent. Abuelita and Me is a great story for people of all ages.

Abuelita and Me is a precious story following several days in the life of a grandmother and grandchild. This story is so powerful and wonderfully done. While on the bus, they face discrimination which has a big impact on the grandchild. The story continues as they try to process what it means to be treated differently and why they shouldn't let it change who they are and how brightly they shine. With beautiful artwork on every page this is a book you won't want to miss.

Special thanks to Netgalley for the eARC in exchange for my honest review.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced readers copy of this book!

I read this along with my 7 and 8 year old- they said this book is “sad, relatable, and happy.” I’d agree with them. As a child raised half of the time by her own abuela in the states- it was good to see some representation of a not so peachy time. The illustrations are beautiful. The love captured in the book is there. Simple, and lovely.

Abuelita and Me is a beautifully written tale of a young girl and her grandmother and their daily experiences in life. From the bus rides, to the markets, and in public Abuelita faces many challenges due to her culture. We learn a valuable lesson from her granddaughter, in the face of adversity.
This story truly hits home for so many immigrant families doing their best to simply survive. As an educator of mainly Hispanic population, I cannot wait to share this book with my students. A five star read!

Thank you to NetGalley, annickpress and Leonarda Carranza for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

It's the first time I finish reading a picture book and I feel a pang in my chest and tears forming behind my eyes that are trying to force their way out and spill all over.

I'm so sad and so angry, sad for seeing the little girl's fear and the grandma's own sadness and angry for the injustices that bipoc people (latinx, in this case) have to face always, even when they aren't doing anything or interacting with anyone but you can see it in the eyes and the posture of those around them. Even writing this and thinking back to these pages, my hands are curling into fists and shaking from the anger and frustration of it all.

I say all of that as a grown up reading it, a grown up who knows the extent to which racism goes to every single day.
But not here.
Here we have a smiling joyful grandma and her little niece, who is confused at how people act around them and is frightened by a big mean bus driver who snarls at them only because they didn't pay the fare the instant they stepped into the bus.

This is an incredible picture book that any kid should read.
It is delicate, sweet, lovely, it has stunning and soft illustrations that speak volumes - perhaps more than the words themselves did - and it manages to show a reality so harsh in a way that kids can understand and learn from it... so that hopefully, one day, racism will be just a terrible memory of the past.

A girl and her grandmother run into unpleasant encounters (and people) when they go out into the city for errands in this powerful debut.

This is such an important read that highlights not only outright racism and discrimination, but also casual racism and ignorance. I love the protagonist's relationship with her grandmother. The illustrations are beautiful, with a good level of detail in facial expressions.

Abuelita and Me is one of those picture books that sears through you as you're reading it. It captures experiences I had and often didn't speak of as a child, and the feelings of shame when your beloved abuela is publicly derided for being an immigrant and seeking out food from your culture. Carranza doesn't shy away from the intensity and pain of those moments or the fallout on the relationship between grandparent and grandchild. Much like with life, there is no neat and tidy ending here, Carranza's story is one of love and perseverance. It's my story. It's the story of many children who may not have seen it represented in their books yet. This will be a good one for a preschool-early grade storytime. Thanks NetGalley for the early reader copy in exchange for an honest review!

Thank you to Annick Press for the advanced copy of Abuelita and Me. A young hispanic girl spends her entire day with her abuelita. They mostly play inside, but occasionally they head outside, where they often find discrimination because of their ethnicity. The bus driver accuses them of theft, the grocery store worker does not understand the word Yuca, etc. The young narrator sees these people as monsters and does not understand why the world doesn't see her grandmother as the wonderful woman she sees in her. Since the abuelita sees how this is affecting her granddaughter, she convinces her to try going out again. I will enthusiastically purchase this title for our children's room, The topic of discrimination is important, the writing is great, and the illustrations are child-friendly. Thank you!

A big thank-you to NetGalley, the author, and publisher for giving me a copy of this book for an unbiased review.

5/5 - Outstanding.

This little book made me tear up. It tackles the topic of systemic racism with such gentle yet fierce determination. The protagonist's relationship with her abuelita is beautiful, as is her deep desire to right an injustice. The book tackles big topics that might be difficult to discuss with little ones - like how to challenge prejudice and to handle their own big feelings. It explains how adults don't always have all the right answers and doesn't have a neat ending with a bully getting publicly defeated. Instead, it's all about the smaller victories which preserve dignity and help us move forward in a world that isn't always kind. The story is brilliant and it helps that it is accompanied by stunning, Pixar-worthy illustrations. This book should be on library shelves everywhere.

What begins as a charming series of activities that a little girl enjoys with her grandmother (whom she calls Abuelita) soon reveals itself to be a message about the prejudice that the grandmother faces in her community. The grandmother is so loving, special, and almost larger than life to her young granddaughter. However, when faced with a rude cashier, or a racist bus driver, suddenly grandmother seems cast as a victim to her granddaughter. This doesn't sit right, and the granddaughter doesn't understand why anyone would treat her grandmother with discrimination.

It's only when Abuelita says that neither she nor her granddaughter have anything to be ashamed of that they begin finding their voice and standing up to the people who tried to count her out. It is a bittersweet story and while the granddaughter does find some solutions to the issues they face, ultimately we are left with the awareness that racism and prejudice are ever present and there isn't always a neat bow to tie up the story at the end. This would be a great book to introduce microaggressions and racist stereotypes with a follow up discussion of how we can work to be allies. I highly recommend this for all classrooms and libraries.

Thanks to NetGalley for a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review!