Is the pressure of fitting in at school hard to manage? Do you have a difficult time dealing with the expectations of parents? Does thinking about the future bring both excitement and fear?
This Summer Reading Bag features stories from typical American teenagers' lives. But, these teenagers are also immigrants - both documented and undocumented. Escape from your own pressures and learn about teenage struggles that also include racism, language barriers, and the dream of acceptance.
The American Dream - 4 Books in this Bag:
I am not your perfect Mexican daughter / by Erika L. Sánchez.
Summary: Julia refuses to conform to her Mexican family's expectations of her, wanting to become a writer instead of following her older sister Olga on the path of community college, part-time job, and taking care of their parents. Then, Olga dies mysteriously, and her best friend Angie hints to Julia that there may have been more to Olga than everyone thought. Julia and her best friend, Lorena, investigate, and in the meantime Julia has to figure out how to fall in love with Connor, a white boy whom she is sure could never understand her family.
Picture us in the light / by Kelly Loy Gilbert.
Summary: Daniel, a Chinese-American teen, must grapple with his plans for the future, his feelings for his best friend Harry, and his discovery of a family secret that could shatter everything.
Love in English / by Maria E. Andreu.
Summary: "Sixteen-year-old Ana is a poet and a lover of language. Except that since she moved to New Jersey from Argentina, she can barely find the words to express how she feels. At first Ana just wants to return home. Then she meets Harrison, the very cute, very American boy in her math class, and discovers the universal language of racing hearts. But when she begins spending time with Neo, the Greek Cypriot boy from ESL, Ana wonders how figuring out what her heart wants can be even more confusing than the grammar they're both trying to master. After all, the rules of English may be confounding, but there are no rules when it comes to love. With playful and poetic breakouts exploring the idiosyncrasies of the English language, Love in English is witty and effervescent, while telling a beautifully observed story about what it means to become 'American'"
Lucy and Linh / by Alice Pung.
Summary: Lucy is a bit of a pushover, but she's ambitious and smart, and she has just received the opportunity of a lifetime: a scholarship to the prestigious school Laurinda, and a ticket out of her broken-down suburb of Stanley. Linh is blunt, strong-willed, and fearless - everything Lucy once loved about herself. She is Lucy's last solid link to her life before Laurinda, but she is growing tired of being eclipsed by the glamour of Laurinda. As Lucy floats farther from the life she once knew, her connection to Linh - and her life in Stanley - threatens to snap.