num_pages: 336
description: First-generation American LatinX Liliana Cruz does what it takes to fit in at her new nearly all-white school. But when family secrets spill out and racism at school ramps up she must decide what she believes in and take a stand.Fifteen-year-old Liliana is fine thank you very much. Its fine that her best friend Jade is all caught up in her new boyfriend lately. Its fine that her inner-city high school is disorganized and underfunded. Its fine that her father took off againokay maybe that isnt fine but what is Liliana supposed to do? Shes fifteen! Being left with her increasingly crazy mom? Fine. Her heathen little brothers? Fine fine fine. But it turns out Dad did leave one thing behind besides her crazy family. Before he left he signed Liliana up for a school desegregation program called METCO. And shes been accepted. Being accepted into METCO however isnt the same as being accepted at her new school. In her old school Lilianahalf-Guatemalan and half-Salvadorianwas part of the majority where almost everyone was a person of color. But now at Westburg where almost everyone is white the struggles of being a minority are unavoidable. It becomes clear that the only way to survive is to lighten upwhiten up. And if Dad signed her up for this program he wouldnt have just wanted Liliana to survive he would have wanted her to thrive. So what if Liliana is now going by Lili? So what if shes acting like she thinks shes better than her old friends? Its not a big deal. Its fine. But then she discovers the gutting truth about her father: Hes not on one of his side trips. And it isnt that he doesnt want to come homehe cant. Hes undocumented and hes been deported back to Guatemala. Soon nothing is fine and Lili has to make a choice: Shes done trying to make her white classmates and teachers feel more comfortable. Done changing who she is denying her culture and where she came from. They want to know where shes from what shes about? Liliana is ready to tell them.
language: English
title: Don't Ask Me Where I'm From
publisher: Atheneum/Caitlyn Dlouhy Books