Book of the Month
YOU SOUND LIKE A WHITE GIRL: THE CASE FOR REJECTING ASSIMILATION
Author: Julissa Arce
Publisher: Flatiron Nooks
ISBN-10: 1250787017 / ISBN-13: 978-1250787019
SUMMARY:
“You sound like a white girl.” These were the words spoken to Julissa by a high school crush as she struggled to find her place in America. As a brown immigrant from Mexico, assimilation had been demanded of her since the moment she set foot in San Antonio, Texas, in 1994. She’d spent so much time getting rid of her accent so no one could tell English was her second language that in that moment she felt those words―you sound like a white girl?―were a compliment. As a child, she didn’t yet understand that assimilating to “American” culture really meant imitating “white” America―that sounding like a white girl was a racist idea meant to tame her, change her, and make her small. She ran the race, completing each stage, but never quite fit in, until she stopped running altogether.
In this dual polemic and manifesto, Julissa dives into and tears apart the lie that assimilation leads to belonging. She combs through history and her own story to break down this myth, arguing that assimilation is a moving finish line designed to keep Black and brown Americans and immigrants chasing racist American ideals. She talks about the Lie of Success, the Lie of Legality, the Lie of Whiteness, and the Lie of English―each promising that if you obtain these things, you will reach acceptance and won’t be an outsider anymore. Julissa deftly argues that these demands leave her and those like her in a purgatory―neither able to secure the power and belonging within whiteness nor find it in the community and cultures whiteness demands immigrants and people of color leave behind.
In You Sound Like a White Girl, Julissa offers a bold new promise: Belonging only comes through celebrating yourself, your history, your culture, and everything that makes you uniquely you. Only in turning away from the white gaze can we truly make America beautiful. An America where difference is celebrated, heritage is shared and embraced, and belonging is for everyone. Through unearthing veiled history and reclaiming her own identity, Julissa shows us how to do this.
Ab
out the Author:
Julissa Arce is a nationally recognized author, sought-after speaker, producer, and social changemaker. She is the best-selling author of My (Underground) American Dream and Someone Like Me. Arce is a Crooked media contributor and a frequent writer for Time Magazine, and has provided political commentary across numerous TV networks including NBC News, Bloomberg TV, CNN, and MSNBC. She is the cofounder of the Ascend Educational Fund, a college scholarship and mentorship program for immigrant students regardless of their immigration status. She lives in Los Angeles with her family.
Website: http://julissaarce.com/
Facebook: @julissaarce @Flatironbooks
Twitter: @julissaarce @Flatironbooks
Instagram: @julissaarce @flatiron_books
Conversations With Book
SECRET IDENTITY
Author: Alex Segura
Publisher: Flatiron Books
ISBN: 1250801745 / ISBN-13: 978-1250801746
SUMMARY:
It’s 1975 and the comic book industry is struggling, but Carmen Valdez doesn’t care. She’s an assistant at Triumph Comics, which doesn’t have the creative zeal of Marvel nor the buttoned-up efficiency of DC, but it doesn’t matter. Carmen is tantalizingly close to fulfilling her dream of writing a superhero book.
That dream is nearly a reality when one of the Triumph writers enlists her help to create a new character, which they call “The Lethal Lynx,” Triumph’s first female hero. But her colleague is acting strangely and asking to keep her involvement a secret. And then he’s found dead, with all of their scripts turned into the publisher without her name. Carmen is desperate to piece together what happened to him, to hang on to her piece of the Lynx, which turns out to be a runaway hit. But that’s complicated by a surprise visitor from her home in Miami, a tenacious cop who is piecing everything together too quickly for Carmen, and the tangled web of secrets and resentments among the passionate eccentrics who write comics for a living.
Alex Segura uses his expertise as a comics creator as well as his unabashed love of noir fiction to create a truly one-of-a-kind novel–hard-edged and bright-eyed, gritty and dangerous, and utterly absorbing.
About the Author:
Alex Segura is the SVP – Sales and Marketing at Oni Press and the author of Star Wars Poe Dameron: Free Fall and the acclaimed Pete Fernandez Mystery series. He has also written a number of comic books, most notably the superhero noir The Black Ghost, the YA music series The Archies, and the “Archie Meets” collection of crossovers. A Miami native, he lives in New York City with his wife and children.
Website: https://www.alexsegura.com/
Twitter: @alex_segura @Flatironbooks
Instagram: @alexsegurajr @flatiron_books
Facebook: @alexseguraofficial @Flatironbooks
Conversations With Book
SOMETHING ABOUT GRANDMA / UN VERANO ESPECIAL CON LA ABUELA
Author: Tania de Regil
Publisher: Candlewick
ISBN: 1536201944 / 1536222569 / ISBN-13: 978-1536201949 SP: ISBN-13: 978-1536222562
SUMMARY:
At Grandma’s house, where Julia is staying without her parents for the first time, the breeze is sweet like jasmine. Mornings begin with sugared bread, and the most magnificent hot chocolate cures all homesickness. There’s something about this place . . . and about Grandma. Like how she can tell when Julia has been quietly picking limes from the garden. Or that she can see the future—and knows when Julia is about to fall off her bike. Or how she can journey back in time through the stories she tells. In the room where Julia’s mother grew up, her grandmother holds her in a warm embrace—an embrace that Julia will pass on to her family when her parents arrive with her new baby brother. With Tania de Regil’s heartfelt illustrations, incorporating poems by her great-grandfather that were handwritten by her grandmother, Something About Grandma offers a tender and playful exploration of the magic of intergenerational love and wisdom. This book is also available in Spanish: Un Verano Especial Con La Abuela.
About the Author:
Tania de Regil, the author-illustrator of A New Home and the illustrator of We Really Do Care by Tami Lewis Brown. She studied fashion design at Parsons School of Design in New York City before moving back to her native Mexico City, where she finished her degree. Something About Grandma is inspired by her own childhood memories of staying with her grandmother. Tania de Regil lives in Mexico City and travels to the United States frequently.
Website: https://taniaderegil.com/ https://candlewick.com/
Twitter: @TaniadeRegil @Candlewick
Instagram: @taniaderegil.books @candlewickpress
Facebook: @taniaderegilbooks @candlewickpressbooks
