Aniana del Mar Jumps In

A painful yet hopeful exploration of family, trauma, faith, and healing.

Aniana del Mar Jumps In is a story of love, loss, and growth that explores how our actions can unintentionally harm those who we love, how we learn to heal from that pain, and how we grieve not only those who we've lost but the people we once were, as well as embracing who we are becoming.

In Galveston, Tex., 12-year-old Aniana del Mar loves to swim: "All I want/ is to/ slip/ slide/ drift/ glide." During daddy-daughter dates, she and Papi head to the YMCA for swim practice and meets, but the two keep these events secret from Mami, who still grieves losing "her brother/ her house and/ her village" as a child during Hurricane Georges, and regularly fears the worst for her family. But everything comes crashing down when Ani's occasional post-exercise aches and swelling intensify into chronic pain, "statue-stiff/ mornings and clumsy/ collapses," and a diagnosis of juvenile idiopathic arthritis. Religious Mami believes that God is punishing Ani for keeping secrets and lies with her father, and, in spite of the physical therapist's recommendation otherwise, bans all swimming. Ani meanwhile feels abandoned by Papi, who's frequently away working for the Coast Guard. Via myriad poetic forms and sensorial verse, Mendez viscerally details the emotional family tumult of grief, mistrust, and resentment alongside Ani's heartfelt quest to reunite with water. Back matter details poetic forms used and notes that Mendez, like Aniana, is Dominican American and lives with chronic illness and disability. Ages 8-12. Agent: Stefanie Sanchez Von Borstel, Full Circle Literary. (Mar.)

Copyright 2023 Publishers Weekly, LLC Used with permission.

Aniana del Mar Jumps in is about trusting our own bodies when they tell us what they can and cannot do, trusting our own hearts when they point the way, and trusting one another when we say who we are and what we need. Jasminne Mendez uses multiple poetic forms and deft lyricism to explore the knotty intaglios of family and community, guiding readers through multiple emotional storms to a rousing, heart-warming conclusion. —David Bowles, award-winning author of They Call Me Güero

Reading this made me feel like I have been holding my breath without knowing it. This book made me exhale. Similarly, I know that so many young people will see themselves in this book, exhale and say FINALLY. Such an important book. —Elisabet Velasquez, award-winning author of When We Make It

I both cried and rooted for Aniana as she navigates the new realities of her body and journeys to protect the parts of her that, even in illness, are fully hers to claim. Beautiful in its honesty and vulnerability, this is a powerful story about dreams and bodily agency that sings from the heart. —Natalia Sylvester, award-winning author of Breathe and Count Back From Ten