“The Distance Between Us” is a well-written book by an author who came to the U.S. as an undocumented immigrant from Mexico. Her parents original intentions were to provide a better life and more opportunities for their three children. However, the move ultimately had disastrous consequences for her family. Even though the book offers some important topics for discussion, I don’t think it would be the best selection for the CRP. The author ends up a success story, but the same can’t be said for the rest of her family. She was fortunate to meet a teacher-mentor who provided a great deal of emotional/financial support to her. Without this her life would have been much different.
I agree with Gina. This is not the best selection for the CRP. While the story is compelling and important, it felt long and dragged a bit at times. Some of the detail could have been edited out to make the story flow. I am not sure students would have the patience to read to the end.
I actually think this would be an excellent book for CRP in that it is beautifully written and many of our students will relate to the complicated, and painful experiences depicted regarding immigration from Mexico. I love that it ended on an inspirational note celebrating the power of education (especially California institutions of public ed.) while at the same time portraying the challenges the family experienced related to integenerational trauma, abuse, violence, mental illness and addiction. I highly recommend this book.
The Distance Between Us tells an important story, but I feel that it asks too much of the reader to work well as a campus reading book. I had difficulty distinguishing the various aunts who are introduced in the early part of the book. The writer introduces places names without first explaining what they are. A little bit of backtracking does the trick, but we can’t expect all readers to engage in that extra work. The book is also fairly long at 322 pages. I would not recommend this book for our campus reading program.
“The Distance Between Us” is a well-written book by an author who came to the U.S. as an undocumented immigrant from Mexico. Her parents original intentions were to provide a better life and more opportunities for their three children. However, the move ultimately had disastrous consequences for her family. Even though the book offers some important topics for discussion, I don’t think it would be the best selection for the CRP. The author ends up a success story, but the same can’t be said for the rest of her family. She was fortunate to meet a teacher-mentor who provided a great deal of emotional/financial support to her. Without this her life would have been much different.
I agree with Gina. This is not the best selection for the CRP. While the story is compelling and important, it felt long and dragged a bit at times. Some of the detail could have been edited out to make the story flow. I am not sure students would have the patience to read to the end.
I actually think this would be an excellent book for CRP in that it is beautifully written and many of our students will relate to the complicated, and painful experiences depicted regarding immigration from Mexico. I love that it ended on an inspirational note celebrating the power of education (especially California institutions of public ed.) while at the same time portraying the challenges the family experienced related to integenerational trauma, abuse, violence, mental illness and addiction. I highly recommend this book.
The Distance Between Us tells an important story, but I feel that it asks too much of the reader to work well as a campus reading book. I had difficulty distinguishing the various aunts who are introduced in the early part of the book. The writer introduces places names without first explaining what they are. A little bit of backtracking does the trick, but we can’t expect all readers to engage in that extra work. The book is also fairly long at 322 pages. I would not recommend this book for our campus reading program.