I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter by Erika L. Sánchez

She was a 2017-2019 Princeton Arts Fellow, and a recent recipient of the 21st Century Award from the Chicago Public Library Foundation and a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship in Poetry. Her debut young adult novel, I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter, published in October 2017 by Knopf Books for Young Readers, is a New York Times Bestseller and a National Book Awards finalist. A poet, novelist, and essayist, her debut poetry collection, Lessons on Expulsion, was published by Graywolf in July 2017, and was a finalist for the PEN America Open Book Award. Sánchez is the daughter of Mexican immigrants.

She has recently been appointed the Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz Chair in the Latin American and Latino Studies Department at Erika L.

Agent: Michelle Brower, Zachary Shuster Harmsworth Literary. Julia is a sympathetic character, but Sánchez’s often expository writing keeps her and her struggles at arm’s length. As the book moves along, Julia’s frustration with the many constraints she lives under-poverty, family expectations, and conditioning that she resents but can’t quite ignore-reaches dangerous levels. Sánchez’s debut novel covers a lot of ground, including Julia’s day-to-day activities in Chicago, her college ambitions, her first boyfriend (who is white and comes from a wealthy neighborhood), her difficult relationship with her overprotective parents, and her search for Olga’s secrets.

And when she starts to suspect that Olga might not have been so perfect, she follows every clue. When Olga dies suddenly, Julia is left wishing that they had been closer and grieving what she sees as Olga’s wasted life. Julia, by contrast, argues with her mother, talks back at school, and dreams of becoming a famous writer. Why isn’t 15-year-old Julia Reyes a perfect Mexican daughter in her mother’s eyes? Mostly because of her older sister, Olga, who puts family first, listens to her parents, and dresses conservatively.

I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter by Erika L. Sánchez