A novel in poems chronicles Lupita’s journey through high school, when her family faces the challenges of her mother’s cancer diagnoses and treatment At times, Lupita feels everything in her life is inconsequential compared to her mother’s illness, but when friends accuse her of being too white because of her academic achievements, her pain and anger are vivid. While her father cares for her mother, Lupita cares for her younger siblings. But after her mother’s death, she must choose between honoring her father’s wishes that she stay at home, and following her dream of going to college in a new place. Author Guadalupe Garcia McCall’s beautifully written novel in Lupita’s first-person voice captures the flow of life on both sides of the border as Lupita’s family, which lives in a Texas border town, regularly goes back and forth to visit relatives in Mexico. Deep love for her family grounds Lupita in both places, and that love is what sustains her, and also what challenges her as she thinks about moving beyond grief into a future of her own making. (Ages 12–16)