CCBC Booklists

CCBC Review:

An affecting debut novel explores intersecting complexities in the lives of two teenage girls. Ever since Pa left, taking the family’s savings with him, Mexican American Belén has been struggling both in school—she’s flunking—and at home. Her mom is either absent or, if she’s home, crying; her older sister, Ava, works constantly to help support them. Belén conceives of her own depression as a physical, suffocating pressure. Hooking up with Alexis, a college student who’s clearly using Belén, provides temporary relief but long-term heartache. Belén feels her life trajectory has stalled, and she struggles with a deep-seated fear that she not only looks like her father but will someday behave like him, too. And then a new complication arises: Belén’s best friend, Leti, an ambitious AP student, is pregnant. Although Leti’s Catholic parents know she’s pregnant, Leti is terrified to reveal the identity of the baby’s father; her boyfriend, Quentin, is Black, and Leti knows her Mexican immigrant parents—who often lament that Leti’s skin is so dark—will never approve. There are no simple fixes for these Oakland teens, and their lives may not look exactly as they had planned, but neither is the outlook bleak; by the end, both Belén and Leti take steps toward a more promising future. ©2025 Cooperative Children’s Book Center

CCBC Age Recommendation: Age 14 and older
Age Range: Grades 9-12 (Age 14 and older)
Format: Novel
Subjects: Christian People Depression Families Fathers Friendship Girls and Women Mexicans and Mexican Americans Mothers Racism School Self-Esteem and Self-Worth Sex and Sexuality Sexism Siblings Teen Pregnancy Trauma
Diversity subjects: Black/African Latine Christian Psychiatric
On CCBC Booklist: Race and Racism: Selected Books for Pre-K to Grade 12 

Publishers: HarperCollins, Quill Tree
Publish Year: 2024
Pages: 349
ISBN: 9780063287860
CCBC Location: Fiction, Ixta

Add To My List