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This is a cute story about what makes us who we are, and I'm glad I read it, but it doesn't hold together as tightly as it might. There were some opportunities for tension that I think the author missed out on, and I'm not keen on seventh graders dating each other. I did, however, enjoy learning about Luxembourg and Luxembourgish. I read this with my son as part of Build Your Library homeschool curriculum, level 6.

“It was her real life, Imani,” she said apologetically. “It‘s not some book we read in school with, like, symbols and themes. She didn‘t have to end with any closure.”

This book weaves together the story of Imani, an African American girl adopted by a Jewish family, with her great grandmother Anna‘s story of leaving Luxembourg to live with a couple in New York City in 1941. I enjoyed the way the diary made the past real to Imani and also helped her better understand her own adoption. It is a wonderful combination of historical fiction and the reality of family as more than genetics.

#TRS2019 #MiddleGrade

I settled in for a little bit of cozy reading this evening with Gandalf. This story alternates between the perspective of an adopted Jewish girl in the present and her great grandmother‘s diary from 1941.

There was a lot going on in this book. Adopted black daughter of Jewish parents preparing for her Bat Mitzvah finds her recently-deceased great-grandmother‘s diary and begins a search for what happened to her family during the Holocaust while simultaneously trying to find a way to tell her mom she wants to search for her biological parents. The alternating present day and historical storylines was right up my alley.

#MiddleGradeMay

I want to join you for #MiddleGradeMay. My first two books shown.