I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter

Narrator Kyla Garcia's portrayal of Julia, a first-generation Mexican-American daughter of undocumented immigrants, brings the frustrated, angst-ridden teenager to life. After her sister's accidental death, Julia struggles with the expectation that she will step into her sister's role, giving up her own ambitions. Julia's depression and anxiety, as well as her grief over her sister's death and the distress of discovering her sister's secrets, are deftly voiced through inflections and other vocal cues. Garcia gives each of the secondary characters a unique voice, including an appropriate accent. Despite some slightly distracting mouth sounds and an often slow-paced narration, this coming-of-age story's timely topics make it a worthy listen. A.L.S.M. � AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine

March 5, 2018
For the audio edition of Sánchez’s YA novel, actor Garcia plays up the resentment, guilt, and disbelief of a tough-as-nails protagonist grieving the death of her older sister. Fifteen-year-old Julia Reyes always saw herself as the rebel of the family, while her older sister, Olga, was the perfect one, whom their parents favored. After Olga is killed in a traffic accident, Julia starts to lash out at everyone around her. Actor Garcia perfects Julia’s hardened exterior and presents her gritty attitude not as an act of defiance, but rather in terms of her determination to leave her Chicago home and lead a full life, in part because her sister will never have that opportunity. Though Sánchez packs multiple plot lines into the book, including Julia’s suicide attempt and her fling with a rich boy from the suburbs, Garcia’s reading helps situate them into the larger emotional journey of coming-of-age while grieving the tragic death of a family member. The result is a powerful audiobook. Ages 14–up. A Knopf hardcover.