Don't Ask Me Where I'm From

When I saw the gorgeous book cover and read the email subject line from NetGalley “The Hate U Give meets I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter”, I knew I had to read it. I couldn’t put it down until I finished.

Lilliana’s story covers so many current events from immigration to the US from Central America to the fact that most schools are still segregated nearly 70 years after Brown V. Board of Education. The discussions started by Lilliana in class and by the group of students bussed into this wealthy suburb of Boston are conversations we should all be having in classes and in school board meetings. I hope to share this with as many teachers and students as I can!

This book is well written and should be required reading for anyone growing up in this crazy period of history. In fact, it should be required reading for anyone. This book teaches empathy in a way that only truly honest books can. I highly recommend it and will be sharing it with all the educators I know.

As a teacher, I found this novel to be exceptionally gripping. Lilliana Cruz is a student who is accepted into the METCO program at a suburban high school, leaving her old school and the world behind in Jamaica Plains, Boston. Lili and the other students in the METCO program are adding diversity to the white upper-middle-class high school. Lili's father has been missing for the last few months and when the reader discovers where he is it very timely for this current climate. Lili needs to navigate her relationship with her mom, her new school and classmates who are increasingly rude and racist. Her teachers make assumptions about her because she is Hispanic and does not seem to realize and/or care how their remarks affect her. I can not recommend this novel more and would definitely recommend it to my students.

A very timely novel, well written, and engaging. As a teacher of predominantly minority students, I'm always looking for representation in YA for them. Liliana Cruz is a wonderful character. De Leon shows us through this book how even though technically segregation doesn't exist, it still does. Liliana gets accepted into the METCO program, that takes her from her comfortable neighborhood school and friends to a white school in a suburban neighborhood. While she struggles with those changes, she also has to cope at home with her missing father and the home life; we discover De Leon's parents are undocumented and her father has been deported.

Despite the serious subject matter, I really enjoyed this book and would absolutely recommend it to my students and other teens who cross my path.

Liliana Cruz is perhaps her school's best writer, and when she has the chance to leave her inner city school for a prestigious program in the suburbs, Liliana is not all that excited, but her mother is thrilled.

Once ensconced in her new school, Liliana struggles to understand where she fits in among the affluent, white students who call the school home. She struggles in her classes, and when a basketball star is knocked off the team, tensions come to head between the students bused to the school and those zoned for it.

As a teacher, I felt the book was well-written for a teen audience and did not talk down to young adults or become preachy. I felt Liliana's family struggle was handled deftly, as was the relationships between her new and old friends.

I really enjoyed this book and would recommend it for my students.

A gut wrenching urban to suburban story of a teenage child of two undocumented immigrants. You get to follow Lili(ana) as she navigates homelife vs. School life in two drastically difference environments.

This book rang true for me. The story of a first generation student integrated into a more affluent school and the struggles she has not only as a Latina but also as a high school student of color in a whole new world will hopefully open the eyes of many. Parents that want the best for their children and children that are making the most of their situations is clearly exemplified in this book. Great read for adults and students alike.