I Wanna Be Your Shoebox
by Cristina Garcia (Author)
Because Yumi RuÍz-Hirsch has grandparents from Japan, Cuba, and Brooklyn, her mother calls her a poster child for the twenty-first century. Yumi would laugh if only her life wasn't getting as complicated as her heritage. All of a sudden she's starting eighth grade with a girl who collects tinfoil and a boy who dresses like a squid. Her mom's found a new boyfriend, and her punk-rock father still can't sell a song. She's losing her house; she's losing her school orchestra. And worst of all she's losing her grandfather Saul.
Yumi wishes everything could stay the same. But as she listens to Saul tell his story, she learns that nobody ever asks you if you're ready for life to happen. It just happens. The choice is either to sit and watch or to join the dance.
National Book Award finalist Cristina García's first middle-grade novel celebrates the chaotic, crazy, and completely amazing patchwork that makes up our lives.
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Publishers Weekly
García's (Dreaming in Cuban) exceptional ability to channel a range of voices lights up her first children's novel, about an eighth-grader in Southern California. Yumi Ruíz-Hirsch comes from a colorful family—her long-divorced mom is Cuban, “with a little Guatemalan thrown in,” and a reasonably successful novelist; her dad, a struggling songwriter, is the oldest member of a punk-rock band—and Yumi adores her grandparents, Saul (Jewish, from Brooklyn) and Hiroko (from Japan). Suddenly loss is imminent for Yumi: 92-year-old Saul is diagnosed with cancer; her school is planning to cut the orchestra, and Yumi plays the clarinet; and then her mother decides to marry and move with her to Napa. The large personalities propel the story and bring tenderness and credibility to a classic message about change. Perhaps the most memorable is Saul, whose interspersed monologues about his life fortify García's structure. (“So where does Uncle Sam send me after nearly killing me in boot camp? The Pacific Theater. Made it sound like I was heading into some action movie with John Wayne. But I ended up in Alaska”). A memorable work. Ages 8–12. (Aug.)
Copyright Publisher's Weekly, LLC. Used with Permission.
JUV039000 - Juvenile Fiction | Social Themes | General
Identity (Psychology)
Families
Grandfathers
California, Southern
Racially mixed people
Racially mixed children
