Content: PG (Mami slaps Aniana)
BUYING ADVISORY: MS - OPTIONAL
AUDIENCE APPEAL: AVERAGE
Aniana’s mother refuses to let her near the water because of what happened to Mami’s brother long ago in the Dominican Republic. Her father, however, has been secretly taking her to swim lessons and then competitions for years. Mami discovers the secret when 12yo Aniana becomes sick - ultra-religious Mami is sure the sickness was brough on by the years of lying and orders Aniana out of the pool forever. Even when Aniana is finally diagnosed with Juvenile Arthritis, Mami refuses to budge on swimming. While she is learning to cope with her disease, how can Aniana find the strength fight Mami on this?
I’ll start with this - when Mami slaps Aniana right in front of the doctor, I am surprised that Mami doesn’t face any consequences. Because of her past trauma, Mami needs counseling and this would have been a perfect time for her to start receiving that help. It would be worthwhile to have a book that addresses chronic illness in children - Aniana shows us how much her disease is misunderstood because she doesn’t have a visible injury.
I reviewed this from my school library audiobook, so there maybe subtleties that I missed.
The main characters from Dominican and Dominican Americans. Aniana's best is LGBT and talks about a girl she is interested in.
Cindy Mitchell, Library Teacher, MLS LGBT best friend
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