Because Yumi RuÍz-Hirsch has grandparents from Japan, Cuba, and
Brooklyn, her mother calls her a poster child for the twenty-first
century. Yumi would laugh if only her life wasn't getting as complicated
as her heritage. All of a sudden she's starting eighth grade with a girl
who collects tinfoil and a boy who dresses like a squid. Her mom's found
a new boyfriend, and her punk-rock father still can't sell a song. She's
losing her house; she's losing her school orchestra. And worst of all
she's losing her grandfather Saul.
Yumi wishes everything could stay the same. But as she listens to Saul
tell his story, she learns that nobody ever asks you if you're ready for
life to happen. It just happens. The choice is either to sit and watch
or to join the dance.
National Book Award finalist Cristina García's first middle-grade novel
celebrates the chaotic, crazy, and completely amazing patchwork that
makes up our lives.