I found her story really interesting, but her writing just wasn't that good. It did provide a good inside look at what deportation can look like for a young person, plus her own struggles with figuring out who she is, what she wants to do with her life, and how to deal with depression.

The tragedy of tearing families apart is poignantly told by Guerrero whose family was deported when she was 14 and she was at school. There are many dark times and struggles but through art and becoming the person she was meant to be, she rises above her circumstances. Lots of helpful information here too

This book is an important, inspiring kid's adaptation of Diane Guerrero's memoir on growing up with undocumented parents. It also deals with depression and cutting, as Guerrero goes through some dark days after her parents and brother are deported without warning when she is a teenager. Having to be her own parent in a lot of ways closed off her access to vulnerability, emotional growth, and trust in others. I love the way she both explains deportation and immigration issues to kids and details ways kids can learn more on the topic and become active in their communities. Highly recommended for kids, middle grade, and young adult readers!

A heartbreaking real life story. A must read for everyone.

How I hate that a book like this even has to be written, that this is something she and others live in fear of and live through. I picked it up to better understand and empathize.
I thought it was well written and eye opening, but the ending felt hurried and slightly more bitter and political than the rest of the book, though I can agree with her on much. She does have every reason to feel as she does and sadly, it is a political issue. It just would have been a bit stronger if not so rushed at the end.

Eye opening and heartbreaking memoir about Diana Guerrero’s childhood, living in constant fear that her parents, undocumented immigrants from Colombia, would be deported. A very powerful read. I’d recommend for ages 12 and up due to inclusion of topics like drinking and self-harm.

I wanted to like this book. I really wanted to like this book. I did not like this book.

The story is relevant and important to tell. Diane Guerrero tells the story of her parents and brother being deported, leaving her, the sole citizen in the family, to fend for herself at a young age in a system that has forgotten about her. It’s important for children whose families are affected by immigration laws to read and see that they’re not alone. It’s important for children whose families are not affected to read to understand what their peers are going through. It’s important for adults to read to understand what our inaction can do and is doing to families across the country.

That being said, the story telling leaves a lot to be desired.

It’s hard to follow.

The narrative is mostly told in chronological order, but jumps back and forth between what’s happening at home and at school and in Columbia so often that it’s difficult to follow. For example, The first couple pages of chapter seven talk about this seemingly sudden need to find a high school. Then, in a rather jarring transition - “Back to Eric.” - she’s talking about her brother.

The slang is too much

If you’re writing a narrative that takes place mainly in the 90s and 00s and want to use slang from the era, great! It may be kind of challenging for younger readers to figure out what all those words mean, but it’s a good exercise in using context clues. Being the same age as the author, I can certainly appreciate the slang of our childhoods.

“I strolled across the platform, careful to keep my Adidas fresh. They were so dope.”

What doesn’t work is jumping back and forth between that and modern slang. I admit that I have a personal vendetta against books that use hashtags and online acronyms (this book was guilty of at least one “LOL”) in their narratives. Combining three decades worth of slang into one narrative made my head want to explode.

“Like all families, mine has #drama.”

A bit about the self-harm narrative

It takes a great deal of strength to write about your struggles, to present them in a nonfiction book with your name attached, for all the world to see. I loved reading about Diane’s journey to accepting that she needed to find help. My concern here, is that the end of this section of the narrative came on so quickly. The only explanation of how she moved past depression was that she talked to a therapist and poured herself into her acting. I know it’s not easy to put on the page, but I wish that she had gone deeper into what her healing process looked like. If you’re considering giving this book to a child or teenager, plan on having a conversation around this issue.

Final thoughts

I’d be curious to read the original version of this, written for adults and see if many of the problems I found would be resolved in the longer narrative.

What happens when a 14 year old comes home from school one day to discover that both of her parents have been deported? Diane Guerrero answers this question as she tells her own story.

For many of us, the issue of immigration is something we can discuss and debate, but for many American children, it is a harsh reality. Diane puts a face and a story to the issue. She also includes resources for immigrants and for others to get involved. Great read!

This would be a good book to help introduce middle-schoolers to the idea of what life might be like as an undocumented immigrant, and the difficulties faced by families who are torn apart when loved ones are taken without warning and deported. The book is a testament to the strength of the immigrant dream, and the willingness to make great sacrifices to obtain it.

I would probably place this pretty firmly in the category of most appropriate for middle school children; high school students might find it just a bit simple or juvenile. The only caution would be a small trigger warning for discussion of self-harm and an abandoned suicide attempt. I feel like the writing glides past these fairly quickly, but it may still be a trigger if a child already has a history of self-harm or a propensity for it.

This book was amazing. I'm so proud of Diane for sharing her amazing story, which is never something easy to do. I'm appalled and disgusted with how the government handled her parents deportation and the fact that the U.S. government did nothing to ensure that she was okay and taken care of. However, despite the challenges Diane has faced, she has turned her story into a positive one and is using it to help others. This book and Diane are incredible! I learned so much about a topic I knew very little about and I especially loved how informative it was at the end about how to get involved and what you could do if you or your parents are living in the U.S. as undocumented immigrants. Absolutely love this story.