A beautiful novel-in-verse that explores the disorienting transition of immigrating to the US from another country—in this case, moving from the Philippines to San Francisco. Fast paced and engaging, with diverse characters.

I devoured this book in a single sitting.

One of my favorite recent novel-in-verse reads. I loved Isabel's story. Watching the school garden grow under her care was full of beautiful imagery. I loved seeing her relationship with her long absent (to support the family) mom, grow like the garden.
I know several kids this will really connect beautifully with, and I can't wait to recommend the story to them.

In Isabel in Bloom, Mae Respicio brings twelve-year-old Isabel's world to life in bright, bursting color. Respicio uses a variety of poetic forms to convey Isabel's journey as she settles into her new home in the US and revives her relationship with her mother, who moved from the Philippines to the US for better work opportunities. Respicio's writing is a unique combination of sweet and funny. She cares deeply about her characters and their hopes and dreams. No matter what trouble she throws their way, she always makes sure they land on their feet, their hearts full of hope.

Isabel's life turns upside down when she migrates to United States from Philippines. While she can finally be with her mom, it was a big transition. She learns that change isn't easy. As someone who immigrated from Philippines to US as a child, I can relate to Isabel's story-from being in a new strange environment, being the new kid in school, and finding your place in a new home. Loved that it highlighted Filipino history in US as well as the culture. A well-written story in verse that contains AAPI representation.

Isabel has been living with her lolo and lola in the Philippines in 1999, helping them garden so they can earn a living by selling their produce in the market. Her mother has been in the US for five years, working as a nanny to three children in a wealthy family while studying nursing. Now, she is doing well enough to send for Isabel. It's hard to levae her grandparents and her best friends, Cristina and Rosamie, but there's no choice. Soon, she is on a plane to San Francisco, where she is greeted by her aunt and uncle, with whom she and her mother will live for a while, because her mother in job hunting. Her lolo has told Isabel that if she is sad in her new home, she should look for familiar things, and she tries her best to do this. The apartment is nice, and she stays in her cousins' room, since they are at college. There are a large number of family members in the Bay area, some having come to the US in the 1960s and 70s. Some, like her cousin Joss, don't even speak Tagalog, and Isabel worries about her accent. She is glad to pick out new clothes at the mall to wear to Bayview Middle school. Her first day doesn't go particularly well, but she makes some progress as the weeks go on. She is forced into a friendship with Melissa' whose father is her aunt's boss at a senior facility. Isabel rather enjoys visiting with the older people, who remind her of her grandparents, especially since there is even a garden there. She missing the Jasmine Sampaguita that was growing in her grandparents' garden, and when she finds out that her school has a long abandoned garden, she is glad to find the same plant there. She joins the cooking club at school, and some of the members are glad to help her out. When one of the men at the senior facility is robbed, Isabel talks her classmates into doing a fund raiser for the center, which might also help save the school garden from being turned into a location for portable school units. It's hard to reconnect with her mother, especially since Nicollette, a girl her mother helped raise, keeps calling, and Isabel worries that her mother might want to move them to New York. Isabel tries very hard to "bloom where you are planted", and while making a home with her mother in the US isn't easy, in the end, she is glad that the two can be together again.
Strengths: Respicio always has such wonderful grandparents, even if the characters have to part from them. Even though Isabel wasn't keen on coming to the US, I appreciated that she tried to have a good attitude and tried her best to get along with people and overcome bad days. I was prepared for Melissa to be a horrible character and was rather relieved when she was not! The details of 1999 are good, including all of the fashions and teen magazines that Isabel enjoys. The gardening is a fun inclusion, and tweens are definitely fans of baking as well. There's plenty of Filipino culture, the practice of coming to the US to earn money to send back home is an interesting topic I haven't seen covered much in middle grade literature. The practice of sending Balikbayan boxes to relatives in the Philippines was very interesting; I know my mother loved to send me packages when I lived away from her, even mailing me cooked macaroni and cheese in the dead of winter when I was in college. I love the sunny cover on this one.
Weaknesses: While this is a well done novel in verse, if this were prose we might have been able to get more information about Filipino history that is lightly touched on. I'm not quite sure why this was set in 1999, other than to feature the very cool hamburger phone, let the girls spend time at the mall, and have the man at the senior center be a veteran of the Bataan Death March during WWII.
What I really think: Readers who enjoyed LaRocca's Red, White and Whole will find this a much more upbeat look at the immigrant experience, and fans of Respicio's How to Win a Slime War, The House That Lou Built, and Any Day With You will enjoy seeing this author try a different format.

This novel-in-verse tackles as well the equally important matters of Filipino immigration and diaspora, and the violence against the Asian American and Pacific Islander communities. I liked how these were woven into this middle-grade book—informative, engaging, and age-appropriate. The range of poetry types used to tell this story was also wonderful, which would appeal to younger readers, older readers, and of course, poets and poetry enthusiasts.

Isabel in Bloom" by Mae Respicio is a touching middle-grade novel in verse that beautifully captures the essence of family, new friendships, and personal growth & resilience. Through the protagonist, Isabel's love for gardening, readers are taken on a heartwarming journey filled with vibrant descriptions, relatable characters, and an exploration into what home can mean, both as related to place and to the people who surround you.

I found the fractured, yet eventually strong relationship between Isabel and her mom particularly moving, as it draws light to the sacrifices and hard decisions working single moms often have to make (in this case, specifically as a Filipina woman who leaves her child to move overseas and raise another family's, all in the interest of her own).

The poetry in this book is also incredibly charming and evocative, especially with the strong gardening metaphors throughout. I can't wait for the spring to come now (review posted in the wintertime)!

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the e-ARC of this middle grade novel in verse.

This is such a lovely book about home, food, flowers, and friendship. I can think of a number of students who will absolutely adore this one!

Isabel and her grandparents in the Philippines have an endearing relationship which gives her the strength to adjust to living a new life without them when she moves to San Francisco to be reunited with her mom after a 5-year separation. Navigating the first year of middle school is tough for any student, especially a new immigrant. I love how this middle grade book is written in verse to give young readers an entry into this touching story that explores friendship, community, and the blossoming of Isa when she takes root in a different world.

This novel in verse was ray of sunshine my heart needed on this dreary day. Isabel spent much of her life being raised by her grandparents in the Philippines while her mother went to school and nannied in the US until she could send for her. Isabel is devastated to leave her family and friends behind, but cautiously puts down roots in San Francisco, making connections through gardening and baking clubs, two things that tie her to her old home. I loved the tidbits I learned about Filipino culture, the activism piece, and the way flowers and cooking (two of my favorite things) were woven throughout the story. This would be a great read aloud for personal essays when we write about our definition of home. This was my favorite of Mae’s books so far!

There's good and bad news for Isabel: she's going to be reunited with the loving mother she's seen only a few times in five years. The bad news is to do that she has to move to California, permanently leaving her home in the Philippines, saying goodbye to her beloved Lola and Lolo. The story centers around Isabel's efforts to make a new life in CA; fortunately for her she encounters little prejudice or bullying that many in her place would experience (or many authors would take that approach). Isabel's love for gardening helps her find her place, meet friends, and bring parts of her old life in the Philippines to her new one. She also gets support from her mother's extended family, who share the fascinating history of how Philippine emigrants have made contributions all over the world. Readers will warm to Isabel as a friend and a realistic role model. Respicio deftly weaves a wealth of information about Philippine culture and history in an engaging, uplifting narrative. The idea of "bloom where you're planted" will comfort readers who, like Isabel, find themselves in a challenging situation they didn't ask for and cannot control. Highly recommended.

This is a heartwarming novel in verse. I enjoyed the variety of poetic forms used as well as the backmatter explaining the types of poetry. The family drama, friendships old and new, and helping others made this story full and one I couldn't put down. The parallel between Isabel and the school garden she finds abandoned made wonderful comparisons to Isabel's struggles to both keep her ties to her original home as well as branch out and flourish in a new country.

'Isabel in Bloom' by Mae Respicio is written in verse. It tells about Isabel who moved to San Francisco from the Philippines. She’s the new girl in middle school. In addition, manage her life while living in a different country. The book is beautifully written. It shows how moving to a different place seems hard at first but later you manage. Also, figure out how to do for your community like Isabel did for gardening in the book.

Isabel in Bloom by Mae Repicio is a lovely, heartwarming novel in verse about a young Filipina girl who finds a new home with her mother in America. We follow her from her home in the Philippines as she flies to reunite with her mother who moved to America years ago in order to find a job and send money home to her family. Isabel is torn between wanting to be with her mom and grieving the family and friends and home she has left behind. But she is resilient and she creates a space for herself in her new land. Isabel in Bloom is a great middle grade novel in verse with a story about change, friendship, family, and finding your place in a new world.

This novel in verse was moving and gorgeous. I’m a fan of all of Respicio’s previous books and this is a beautiful addition to her catalog. This book hits the universal themes of family and friendship in MG expertly and accessibly. Highly recommend.

Isabel in Bloom
by Mae Respicio
Pub Date 09 Apr 2024
Random House Children's,Wendy Lamb Books
Children's Fiction



I am reviewing Isabel in Bloom through Random House Children's, Wendy Lambs Books, and Netgalley:


This middle grade novel celebrates nourishment and growth through a connection between a girl's home in the Philippines and her new home in the U.S.


Isabel is a 12-year-old new student at her middle school in San Francisco. It will be the first time in many years that she will live with her mother again. As a result of Mama's job in the US, Isabel and her grandparents could live more comfortably in the Philippines, but now Isabel doesn't really know her own mother.


Getting to know people in a new city, a new country, is hard, but joining a gardening and cooking club at school may help Isabel find her way, and maybe even bloom.  



This middle grade novel in verse is beautifully written and highly recommended!


I give Isabel in Bloom five out of five stars!


Happy Reading!

Mae Respicio always knows exactly how to write the best stories. I was fully enveloped in Isabel’s story. Amazing Filipino rep in the middle of a story about friendship, family, and billions of garden metaphors. I will reread this over and over again.

Isabel is leaving the Philippines to live with mom in California. She’s nervous about starting school and hopes she can make friends. At lunchtime having no one to sit with, she goes outside and sees an empty garden which reminds her of her grandfather back home who loved to garden. When Isabel joins the culinary club, they meet in the garden and Isabel says let’s start a garden club too. As the garden club starts to grow, Isabel says let’s raise money through bake sales and donate the funds to the senior center across the street. However, the teacher tells them the school wants to use the garden club space for portable classrooms. Can the students talk the district into keeping the garden club?

“Pinoys, Pinays
unseen, unsung
untold
but we learn from them
how to survive, thrive.”

One of the reasons why Filipinos can basically be found all over America is not only in search for jobs, because also because of the stark difference in livable wage between the US and the Philippines and the subsequent labor diaspora. In the US some earn around $10 an hour versus in the Philippines most earn around $10 a day. And so, a lot of Filipinos strive for employment outside of the country because earning a livable wage elsewhere equates having the means to be able to send even a tiny amount that with conversion, means a lot of money for their entire family back home.

This middle grade novel-in-verse tells the story of 12-year-old Isabel whose mother left the Philippines to work as a caregiver for a family in New York. She’s grown up in the provinces of the Philippines having only a monthly care package, known as a “Balikbayan box,” that’s sent to her and her grandparents as a symbol of her mother thinking of her and returning home in spirit. One day, she’s told that she needs to pack it all up cause she’s going to California to live with her mother. Thus begins the story of a young girl trying to find her way carrying the weight of the Filipino-American diaspora experience on her shoulders. This is a story of love, and friendship, of hopes and dreams, and of finding and making a home wherever you may find yourself.

There’s such gentleness in the verses. I was so surprised at how effortlessly Respicio was able to tell the story of this little girl who possessed such kindness and vulnerability. Isabel was an unbelievable complex and full-bodied character. Her sadness and loss and reached out through the pages and tugged at my heartstrings. The bullying and racism she also experienced from kids her age, even from fellow Filipinos, was heartbreaking to see. While Isabel understood the enormity of mother’s sacrifice, she also keenly felt how five years and an ocean apart could turn them into strangers. Her internal monologue was truly beautiful to read and it really showed Isabel’s pureness and strength of character.

I loved the sprinkling of Filipino history, with the origin of certain plants in the Philippines, to the arrival of the first Filipinos in America. I loved the respect for the elderly, the puns and play on words, and the subtle queer representation. I loved the way she saw gardening as a chore in the Philippines but what her grandfather told her resonated with her, it became a symbol of her home. I loved how Respicio created this little girl who thrived despite being thrust in a whole new place, full of new people of different cultures, with a mother she no longer knows. Most of all, I loved how this book embodied the resiliency, strength, and adaptability of all Filipinos; how we all try and try again and find ways and means to make whatever it is work for our loved ones.

This is an absolute must read for all Filipino Americans. It’s so simple and so pure and so beautiful. It made me ache for home. I highly encourage everyone to read this elegant novel-in-verse as it offers such a lovely glimpse into Filipino culture, Filipino-American history, and the Filipino-America diaspora experience through the eyes of a child.

Thank you to Random House Children's, Wendy Lamb Books, and Mae Respicio for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review. My opinions are my own.

This book is a testament to resilience, to finding your place in the world, and to growing and thriving even in difficult situations.

Novels in verse always seem to hit me particularly hard and this one is no different. The poem "Back by Box" had me tearing up, as did the entire last act as Isabel and her mother truly reconnect and see one another for who they are in that moment.

From a teacher perspective, I loved the wide variety of poems used - visual poems, tanagas, haikus - and screenshotted several to refer to as I teach poetry later in the year. I also love how Uncle Angelo gives Isabel (and readers) a mini history lesson about how Filipinos ended up in the United States, starting with those who landed in Northern California in 1587. It's a gentle reminder that Filipinos and other people of color have been intertwined with American history before the country even began.