Twelve-year-old Isabel Ligaya has moved from her grandparents' home in the Philippines to reunite with her mother in San Francisco, but everything is so different and she feels out of place. Isa remembers her lolo's advice to find what is familiar, and as she adjusts to her new school, she decides to join the cooking club and also to seek refuge in the old school garden, where she slowly brings a jasmine plant back to life. With the encouragement of new friends, she also revives the school's garden club and a connection between the school students and the folks in the local senior home.

This lovely novel-in-verse covers not only the loneliness and separation that comes with immigration but also the beauty of friendship and the community built by honoring the generations. Isa often draws on the wisdom of her grandparents, who remind her to "bloom where you are planted," and she overcomes her shyness to make friends across the ages. A lovely story that also plays with various poetic forms (and provides an author's note that encourages young readers to try writing with those same forms). 4 stars.

Thank you, Random House Children's Books and NetGalley, for providing an eARC of this book. Opinions expressed here are solely my own.

The heartfelt journey told in verse of a girl who moves from her home in the Philippines to the U.S. and her attempts of fitting in and finding her own place, through the nourishment and growth of a special garden. Isabel has lived her whole life in the Philippines but when her mother gets a job in the US and moves her there with her, her entire world is changed as she is forced to try and understand a culture she knows nothing about and try and fit in. From learning to make new friends to finding her own space where she can be herself and find connection, this is a wonderful book. I really felt for Isabel and her journey of trying to assimilate and find her own space in a whole new culture was really interesting to read. I would definitely recommend this book for anyone who wants to read a really heartwarming story! The novel-in-verse format of this book was really interesting and it brings you a little closer to Isobel's thoughts and feelings. Overall, a really great read.

*Thanks Netgalley and Random House Children's, Wendy Lamb Books for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*