by Jennifer de Leon
Follows fifteen-year-old Liliana Cruz as she navigates a nearly all-white school, rising racism, and family secrets that force her to choose whether to fit in or speak up. The novel delivers scene-focused immediacy and a close teen viewpoint that keeps stakes personal. It’s an accessible contemporary YA about identity and moral choice, though some readers may find several plot beats telegraphed and emotional moments leaning toward melodrama rather than subtlety.
This summary and audience guidance are AI-generated from the book's description and its recommendation history, last updated June 2026. Recommendations, quotes and sources elsewhere on this page come from published material and are not generated.
Firstgeneration American LatinX Liliana Cruz does what it takes to fit in at her new nearly allwhite school. But when family secrets spill out and racism at school ramps up, she must decide what she believes in and take a stand.Fifteenyearold Liliana is fine, thank you very much. It_x0092_s fine that her best friend, Jade, is all caught up in her new...
Difficulty:hard
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View available editions on AmazonWhy recommended
appears in Young Adult, Teen, and Teen & Young Adult.
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Consider The Giver by Lois Lowry. Recommended by 6 sources.
“Lois Lowry uses spare, plain prose to center a single conceit: a supposedly ideal community that controls emotion and memory. The story follows twelve-year-old Jonas as small revelations accumulate into a sharp ethical dilemma, which makes the book useful for conversation and classroom discussion. Its limitation is emotional restraint and deliberate vagueness—many details and characters stay underdefined—so readers who want rich sensory worldbuilding or a tidy conclusion may feel unsatisfied.”
Each recommendation is collected from a public source — interviews, articles, or curated lists — and linked to its original URL. Books with many verifiable recommendations from respected people rank higher.
