From the Publisher
"[N]ot to be missed. There is truth on every page—about love, restraint, and integrity."—starred, School Library Journal
School Library Journal
★ 11/01/2021
Gr 9 Up—Millie Vargas, who would rather observe the behavior of sea turtles in their natural habitat, takes care of three younger siblings after school (and whenever she is needed), while her mother works for a high-powered Corpus Christi family, the Wheelers. When Mr. Charles Wheeler, a Senate hopeful, reveals some personal details of his "model immigrant" housekeeper's family at a protest against the separation of children from their families at the border, Millie's family is trolled online and become the target of a hate crime. Millie navigates her anger at the Wheeler family, who are privileged enough to openly protest injustice without fear, while slowly developing a crush and falling in love with the oldest son, Charlie, and preparing to tell her mother that she has received a full scholarship at a top college and will be leaving home. Mickelson, who, like Millie, immigrated from Guatemala as an infant, has crafted an analytical and emotionally charged first-person narrative, and explores with a deft and wise hand the complexities of a budding relationship with a person of a different class and the conflict between upward mobility and family loyalty. The perspicacious eyes and heart of Millie, who respects her hardworking mother and mourns her father, who died too young, bring the reader in touch with an honorable family who defy stereotypes, transcend low expectations, and who know they belong here. VERDICT A fabulous debut, not to be missed. There is truth on every page—about love, restraint, and integrity.—Sara Lissa Paulson, City-As-School H.S., New York City
Kirkus Reviews
★ 2021-06-24
Cast into the political firestorm of an aspiring U.S. senator’s campaign, a Guatemalan immigrant teen grapples with her newfound notoriety.
It’s the end of Milagros Vargas’ senior year of high school in Corpus Christi, Texas. So far, aspiring marine biologist Millie’s accepted a spot at Stanford, although her mom doesn’t yet know this. As Millie became the second caretaker of her family after her father’s death, her mom expanded her housekeeping job for the Wheelers, an affluent White family. For Millie, Mr. Wheeler’s campaign for the U.S. Senate means her mom will be away from her family more, caring for the Wheelers’ young daughter. Then, the senatorial candidate highlights Millie and her family as examples of exemplary immigrants during a campaign speech, resulting in public support as well as hostility from internet trolls and anonymous haters. When someone sets the Vargas home on fire, they have no choice but to accept the offer to temporarily move in with the Wheelers, even as Millie finds herself inexplicably drawn toward their son, Charlie. Setting her story against the backdrop of a nameless, anti-immigrant White House administration, Mickelson does a remarkable job of plunging into complex issues with tremendous nuance. Millie’s acquired U.S. citizenship, after arriving as an undocumented asylum seeker, further complicates the discourse, raising stark questions around common debates about which immigrants “deserve” to be welcomed. Full of thought-provoking conversations, messy answers, and lots of heart, this novel’s a quiet knockout.
Utterly compelling. (Fiction. 12-18)
