First published 2023
Iveliz enters seventh grade determined to turn things around. Elementary school ended badly. Middle school started worse. But this year will be different. She plans to make a real friend, help her grandmother Mimi adjust to life after moving from Puerto Rico, and stay out of trouble at school. Her plans fall apart quickly. People say things that make her angry. She struggles to control her reactions. Meanwhile, Mimi insists that Iveliz doesn't need her medication, even though it helps with her sadness. Iveliz knows the medicine works, but explaining her feelings proves nearly impossible when she barely understands them herself. As seventh grade progresses, Iveliz must learn to speak up for herself. She needs to advocate for the help that makes her feel better. She has to find ways to make others listen when they dismiss what she knows about her own mind. The challenge becomes not just surviving middle school, but finding her voice in a world that doesn't always want to hear what she has to say.
Genres: family-life, mental-health, contemporary, adolescence, young-adult
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Puerto Rico
272 pages · Paperback · Vintage Español
Content warnings: mental-illness