August 15, 2023 by Heartdrum
E ARC provided by Edelweiss
Mia lives with her mother and step father, who are both Jewish, in California. It's an okay life, and her stepfather is a decent guy, but Mia feels that her father's Muscogee heritage is completely ignored. She goes to a Jewish school, and has a best friend who was adopted and is of Asian heritage, so the two have each other when classmates give them a hard time. Mia wants to know more about the other half of her cultural background, but her father did not treat her mother well, so her mother doesn't really want to talk about it. Family friends who are Jewish assure Mia that since her mother is Jewish, she is as well, not matter what background her father has. In order to reconnect, Mia decides to cash in her bat mitzvah checks and buy a bus ticket to Oklahoma to visit her father. Her friend helps her, and soon she is showing up on her father's doorstep. She tells her mother that she is at a Jewish Camp, and lies to her father as well. She's glad to spend time with her grandmother, learn some cooking skills from an older cousin, and go to a local celebration where she is able to wear a ribbon skirt and be with other people who celebrate the part of her heritage she hasn't been able to explore. Her mother eventually finds out and comes to Oklahoma to take her home. Will Mia be able to keep the Native part of her identity once she is back in her mother's care?
Strengths: Mia struggles with understanding who she really is, and for most middle grade readers, personal identity is a huge issue. Mia has more to consider than many students do, and it's good to see that both sides of her family are supportive, even if they don't work together to make that support cohesive. There's a good balance of both her home life and her experiences in Oklahoma, so we can see how she is attempting to integrate both sides. The grandmother is especially good to see.
Weaknesses: Mia's running away from home was unsafe, and the underlying problems that made her do this could have used a little more attention. Her mother and stepfather do agree to let her visit her father, but I wanted a bit more in the resolution, like perhaps some personal or family therapy.
What I really think: This is a good choice for readers who liked Fahmy's graphic novel Huda F Are You?, or books like Freedman's My Basmati Bat Mitzvah or Garcia's I Wanna Be Your Shoebox that explore the challenges in understanding personal identity that children with mixed backgrounds face.
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