Publisher's Synopsis
"La energìa. La claridad. La belleza. Elisabet Velasquez lo tiene todo... ¡Su voz es FUEGO!" -Jacqueline Woodson, autora best seller de The New York Times
Una inolvidable, torrencial y esperanzadora novela debut para adultos jóvenes escrita en verso y que redefine lo que significa "triunfar". Para los lectores de Nicholasa Mohr y Elizabeth Acevedo.
Algunos todavìa no tienen el lenguaje, pero ya tienen su historia.
Puertorriqueña de primera generación, Sarai es una adolescente preguntona, capaz de ver claramente el dolor, la verdad y la belleza del mundo que la rodea. Junto a su hermana Estrella, enfrentará los traumas familiares, el machismo y la falta de vivienda en un Brooklyn que se gentrifica rápidamente. Desde muy joven se cuestionará su identidad boricua, la sociedad en la que vive y la vida en general. Una vida que asume con determinación y el corazón abierto para aprender a celebrarse a sì misma como nadie lo habìa hecho.
Y SI LO LOGRAMOS ES UNA CARTA DE AMOR A LOS QUE LES ENSEÑARON A CREER, ERRÓNEAMENTE, QUE JAMÁS PODRÍAN LOGRARLO.
ENGLISH DESCRIPTION
"The energy. The clarity. The beauty. Elisabet Velasquez brings it all.... Her voice is FIRE!" -Jacqueline Woodson, New York Times bestselling author
An unforgettable, torrential, and hopeful debut young adult novel in-verse that redefines what it means to "make it," for readers of Nicholasa Mohr and Elizabeth Acevedo.
Sarai is a first-generation Puerto Rican eighth grader who can see with clarity the truth, pain, and beauty of the world both inside and outside her Bushwick apartment. Together with her older sister Estrella, she navigates the strain of family traumas and the systemic pressures of toxic masculinity and housing insecurity in a rapidly gentrifying Brooklyn. Sarai questions the society around her, her Boricua identity, and the life she lives with determination and an open heart, learning to celebrate herself in a way that she has been denied.
When We Make It is a love letter to anyone who was taught to believe that they would not make it. To those who feel their emotions before they can name them. To those who still may not have all the language, but they have their story. Velasquez' debut novel is sure to leave an indelible mark on all who read it.
