First-generation American LatinX Liliana Cruz does what it takes to fit in at her new nearly all-white school. But when family secrets spill out and racism at school ramps up, she must decide what she believes in and take a stand. ~ From the Publisher
Similar to The Hate You Give by Angie Thomas, this title let’s the reader experience what it is like to be from a different culture trying to fit in to their school community. Ms. De Leon’s writing pulls the reader into Liliana Cruz’s world and builds empathy toward her and the secret her family is keeping. Most teens reading this story will identify with at least one of the characters.
The storyline will have readers rooting for Liliana and admiration for her boldness to do something about her current school situation. Don’t Ask Me Where I Am from will be savored by those readers who like realistic fiction and a cause to get behind . Highly recommended for all teens.
I received an ARC ebook from Netgalley and the publisher, Simon and Schuster Children’s Publishing, in exchange for an honest review.

This book has a beautiful cover and message. I’m 3rd generation Mexican American, 41, and I have a daughter who is 16 so I felt like I should really relate to several aspects of this book. I was SO glad I was chosen to read an ARC of this book.

I have attended schools like both in this book and it’s pretty spot on. There’s a lot that both teens and adults don’t understand about other races and cultures. People in general don’t understand each other or have compassion for each other. I actually liked that the assembly didn’t have the perfect outcome. It was realistic. I could totally see this exact thing happen in schools today. I also liked that Liliana didn’t give up. These conversations should happen. They need to happen. My daughter had the chance to attend a STEM Academy at a school much like Westburg she ultimately turned it down but I worried about these type of things happening if she did attend.

I gave this book a four star rating because there were things that didn’t feel right to me. I’m not sure if there is some sort of METCO program out there but would they really only have a spot for 10-15 kids? That’s not many. Then Liliana didn’t know much about being an immigrant. Even if her parents never talked about it wouldn’t other people in her community? Then there was their mom, no consistent job and yet she’s zoned out watching the news and not even cooking for her family?! I get being depressed and all that but I’ve just never met a Latinx mom like that. The last thing was the way Liliana spoke. Loved with a capital L? Do teens talk like that today? Maybe it’s a Boston Latinx thing? Seems a bit 90s to me. There were other things that bothered me but I don’t want to spoil the story.

Over all, this book was a page turner, I read it in two days. I was eager to find out what happened next and how the story ended.

DON’T ASK ME WHERE I’M FROM by Jennifer De Leon is a mixed bag for me. On the one hand, a young teen is dealing with excelling in her diverse, inner city neighborhood. After being offered the opportunity to attend a special, mostly white school in an upscale suburb, Liliana faces not only being the new girl, but the discomfort of being “different.” What she does to cross the racial barrier teaches a positive lesson.

On the other hand, she also learns she is the child of illegal immigrants and it explains why her father has disappeared. What it doesn’t explain is how this is acceptable or how it was okay to work “under the table.”

Although Liliana’s story is rich is lessons to be learned, her family’s dark secrets and the way it played out left me shaking my head. How can breaking the law, repeatedly be okay? Not the lesson I would want anyone to take away from reading this story, especially a teen.

I received a complimentary ARC edition from Atheneum/Caitlyn Dlouhy Books. This is my honest and voluntary review.

This is definitely a book for these times. I highly recommend this book to young people and even older people to help understand what it is like to be caught up in cultural political manipulation. How difficult it must be for people without citizenship status to spend their lives living in another country and suddenly find it unwelcoming to you. The children who were born here are left without their parents to care for them and lives are torn apart. This is a real thing and it is important that Americans pay attention and have compassion for their neighbors and community members that are having to face deportation. This book reminds us that the people involved are just like us. The red tape that prevented following government directions to citizenship are things that could have been prevented with support from the community and a little compassion.

Really enjoyed this one a lot although I got stuck on a few of the slang terms. The book follows Lilliana's story where she is given the opportunity to go to a predominantly white school for better education opportunities under a program called METCO. In her new school, Lilliana feels she doesn't belong anywhere and even when relationships with others start to develop she finds life at her new school hard to navigate. The book shines light on the experience of a child with undocumented parents and the subtle and not so subtle racism that occurs when Lilliana is in her new situation. I thought the writing was great, Lilliana was relatable and I sped right through this.

Don’t Ask Me Where I’m From by Jennifer DeLeon is a story that needs to be told. We need minority characters who aren’t perpetuating some of the negative stereotypes out there, and Lilianna is a great example. She is an American girl with Latinx blood living in the city with her parents and two brothers when suddenly she is accepted into the METCO program which ships in inner-city minorities to an all-white, uber-rich high school in the suburbs. It’s her father’s dream for her to attend this school. She would love to tell him about it, but he’s been gone for almost a month now. Her mom is spiraling into depression, and while her new school is nice, she is really starting to see a sharp contrast between the other METCO students and the regular students and the racial tension is building. Lilianna tries her best to straddle both worlds while worrying about her family. When she discovers where her father is, so much of her sheltered life starts to make sense. Definitely an eye-opening discussion starter of a novel. This would make a great book club book for high schools. Publish date May 5th 2020 #dontaskmewhereimfrom #jenniferdeleon

I feel like there aren’t many books on the market with main characters who are POC and even less who are LatinX. When I read the synopsis for Don’t Ask Me Where I’m From I immediately put it on my TBR, I was so excited and a bit nervous to see the portrayal of a Latina. I have to say I enjoyed this book a lot. It was interesting but also an important read that dealt with topics that aren’t represented often in books, much less YA. We see Liliana navigate her way at a new, prominently white, school and the racial tensions that result from it. On top of that, she has to deal with her family, an absent father and struggling mother. I’m definitely going to be keeping an eye out for whatever the author publishes next.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC!

I read this book in one sitting. I thought the author did a beautiful job capturing Liliana’s character. The reader felt every moment of struggle, every spark of joy along with her. I also loved that there was no pretty, perfect ending. Too many authors wrap everything up so tidily that it isn’t believable, but this story wasn’t like that. There was some happiness in the ending (Dad making it home, Dustin finally turning on Steve), but the high school was still far from perfect, so it all felt authentic.

Thanks for letting me enjoy this book!

I'm looking forward to getting my hands on a copy of Don't Ask Me Where I'm From. I believe it will be a wonderful addition to my classroom library. A realistic story and for me a very plausible ending that is not wrapped up neat and tidy but left for the reader to consider. This one is going to stay with me for a long time, already in my top 10 of 2020.

Liliana is a Latino teen. She is sent to a Metco school as part of a special program to diversify. The students there are mostly white and she struggles to fit in. She discovers her father was deported so she has to deal with that too. An excellent story about how teens struggle with racism
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I liked this book because it gave real-life perspectives of what teenagers go through when dealing with a family crisis and their future. Liliana is a super-smart but reclusive teenager who only shares a friendship with her best friend, Jade, who has suddenly abandoned her for her new boyfriend. On top of that, she is dealing with going to a new school in a new neighborhood and everything she knows and learning about the deportation of her father. With ISIS and everything going on now in the world, I think this is a great book for teenagers to read to find comfort or understanding that they aren't alone with struggles they may face in life.

I liked the main character development, and the story was relatable on a number of themes, but it felt like De Leon was trying to do just a bit too much in that plot. Too many secondary characters that were flat and underwhelming, and the dialogue that initially felt genuine ended up feeling forced by the end.

Sleep or read? If you're reading this book, then you are not sleeping. As a librarian in a highly diverse Title I middle school, this is exactly the kind of book I want to recommend. Yes, there are other books with a poor, minority main character who is chosen to attend a privileged, predominantly white high school. This book heads in an unexpected direction as the Latinx main character's father has been deported. As she deals with the trauma at home, she faces prejudice and discrimination at school.

This story of school, family, friendship, and racism drives home that, although illegal, segregation still exists. Racism is sometimes subtle and sometimes blatant, but in all cases must be actively fought. This empathy building book is a must read for teens and adults. I already plan to buy copies for my middle school library and the high school library. I hope my students can find their voices just as Liliana finds hers.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

This story takes place in Boston, it is about a high school girl Lilianna who has been accepted into a program called METCO. The program means she will be attending school an hour away in a mostly white school. While she and the other METCO kids are experience racist tension at Westburg High, Lilianna is trying to deal with what has happened to her father. I enjoyed that the story was current and even though it was told from Lilianna's point of view it did offer up some other ideas from other points of view.

I found this story to be both compelling and informative as we got to look at living in American through the eyes of a Latinx main character who is trying to navigate living in two different worlds. Liliana Cruz is attending a poor school in Boston when she gets into a ritzy mostly white school through a program called Metropolitan Council for Educational Opportunity (METCO), a desegregation program meant to give non-white students from Boston's under-performing school districts more educational opportunities. Meanwhile, she is struggling to emotionally support her mother and younger twin brothers when her dad disappears (again), but this time for far longer than he has before. The title ends up being her six-word autobiography and it really resonated with me, as I used to get the question, "Where are you from-from?" all the time when I was growing up. I could feel a lot of her anger, frustration, fear, and sadness as she navigated her personal/familiar struggles and the racism and other challenging situations that occurred in her school. I would absolutely recommend this book to my students, both to those of color who struggle with similar issues and to those who don't to offer them up a different perspective and perhaps open up a dialog.

Special thanks #JenniferDeLeon, #Atheneum/CaitlynDlouhyBooks, #SimonandSchusterChildrensPublishing, and #NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC!

This contemporary story features a LatinX character which is what initially drew me to it #latinxrep.

The story follows Liliana Cruz, a young teen growing up in a diverse urban neighborhood. She's accepted to attend a prestigious, though highly less diverse school, across town. Although she doesn't want to attend, she knows that her MIA dad would want her to and, plus, her mother says she has no choice.

Liliana has to learn how to navigate her new world. Everything from feeling like an outcast amongst the group of kids who should ACTUALLY accept her to questioning how she's feeling about someone of a different race.

On top of all that, her mom is acting strange and clearly hiding some news related to Lili's father.

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So, I gave this book five stars because I couldn't put it down. It's just SO REAL. The problems that Liliana faces are similar to real-world problems that inner-city, low-income and immigrant kids and families face regularly.

At times, Lili wonders about food and money and what's going to happen with their living situation. Lili's mom is a strong woman who is trying to keep her daughters from worrying but it's not easy.

The language that De Leon uses is poetic at times. I just, overall, appreciate how realistic and relevant this book is for 2020. I can't wait to read more from De León!!

Perfect for fans of The Hate U Give, this book is about a high school girl who leaves her neighborhood school for an opportunity to be bussed to the high-performing school in the rich white neighborhood. Liliana's parents sign her up for the METCO program - a diversity initiative - in hopes of giving her a better education. Liliana has to adapt to waking up at 5am to catch the METCO bus, starting a new school mid-semester, and trying to make new friends. Even though the METCO program brings more diversity into the school, students clearly still self-segregate, which is obvious from the first time Liliana sets foot in the cafeteria. Lili hears, "where are you from?" over and over, and no one is satisfied with her answer. Navigating school and friends is hard enough, but then Lili learns something even scarier. Her parents are undocumented, and the reason her father hasn't been around is not because of work or even that he's having an affair... her father has been deported. Lili is terrified for her father, and terrified that someone at school might find out her secret. Can her father make his way back to the family? Can Lili survive the school year and a few racist and ignorant classmates?

Fantastic title that explores identity and the way we present ourselves to the world. YA readers will strongly connect to the voice and Latinx readers especially will see accurate and relatable representation on the page. Highly recommend.

This book is so relevant in today’s climate and regarding the issues so many families face. It’s about a Latinix teen, whose parents are undocumented immigrants from Central America, who receives a scholarship to go to a more affluent high school outside of her Boston neighborhood. It deals with issues of race/ethnicity and identity as well as the fears of deportation and family separation. I recommend looking out for this book when it hits the shelves May 5th.

Thank you to Netgalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Liliana is a girl from Boston who gets the opportunity to attend a highly ranked school in the suburbs. Her parents signed her up for METCO and she finally gets in, but they are the ones who want this - not her. When she gets there, she sticks out like a sore thumb and not even the other METCO students want to include her.

The new school is just one more thing for Lili to deal with. Her father is gone - has been for weeks - and her mother is in a deep depression that keeps her in her room and disconnected from the family. When Lili discovers that her father has been deported and both her parents are undocumented, so many things become clearer to her.

Then someone in the school starts posting racist memes on the internet and it's time for a reckoning.

This was a good book that deals with a lot of current topics, including immigration, mental health, and racial tension. It may have been a little too rosy, but that's what kept it upbeat even with the difficult topics.

My thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an advanced reader's copy in exchange for an honest review.