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Kirkus Reviews' Best Books Of 2017

Pura Belpré Medal Winner

LUCKY BROKEN GIRL

by Ruth Behar ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 11, 2017

A poignant and relevant retelling of a child immigrant’s struggle to recover from an accident and feel at home in America.

In the 1960s, Ruthie Mizrahi, a young Jewish Cuban immigrant to New York City, spends nearly a year observing her family and friends from her bed.

Before the accident, Ruthie’s chief goals are to graduate out of the “dumb class” for remedial students, to convince her parents to buy her go-go boots, and to play hopscotch with other kids in her Queens apartment building. But after Papi’s Oldsmobile is involved in a fatal multicar collision, Ruthie’s leg is severely broken. The doctor opts to immobilize both legs in a body cast that covers Ruthie from chest to toes. Bedridden and lonely, Ruthie knows she’s “lucky” to be alive, but she’s also “broken.” She begins collecting stories from her Jewban grandparents; her fellow young immigrant friends, Belgian Danielle and Indian Ramu; her “flower power” tutor, Joy; and her vibrant Mexican neighbor, Chicho, an artist who teaches her about Frida Kahlo. Ruthie also prays and writes letters to God, Shiva, and Kahlo, asking them for guidance, healing, and forgiveness. A cultural anthropologist and poet, the author based the book on her own childhood experiences, so it’s unsurprising that Ruthie’s story rings true. The language is lyrical and rich, the intersectionality—ethnicity, religion, class, gender—insightful, and the story remarkably engaging, even though it takes place primarily in the island of Ruthie’s bedroom.

Pub Date: April 11, 2017

ISBN: 978-0-399-54644-0

Page Count: 256

Publisher: Nancy Paulsen Books

Review Posted Online: Feb. 3, 2017

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2017

CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES | CHILDREN'S HEALTH & DAILY LIVING

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More by Ruth Behar

ACROSS SO MANY SEAS

BOOK REVIEW

by Ruth Behar

PEPITA MEETS BEBITA

by Ruth Behar & Gabriel Frye-Behar ; illustrated by Maribel Lechuga

TÍA FORTUNA'S NEW HOME

by Ruth Behar ; illustrated by Devon Holzwarth

THE SCHOOL FOR GOOD AND EVIL

THE SCHOOL FOR GOOD AND EVIL

From the school for good and evil series , vol. 1.

by Soman Chainani ; illustrated by Iacopo Bruno ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 14, 2013

Rich and strange (and kitted out with an eye-catching cover), but stronger in the set pieces than the internal logic.

Chainani works an elaborate sea change akin to Gregory Maguire’s Wicked (1995), though he leaves the waters muddied.

Every four years, two children, one regarded as particularly nice and the other particularly nasty, are snatched from the village of Gavaldon by the shadowy School Master to attend the divided titular school. Those who survive to graduate become major or minor characters in fairy tales. When it happens to sweet, Disney princess–like Sophie and  her friend Agatha, plain of features, sour of disposition and low of self-esteem, they are both horrified to discover that they’ve been dropped not where they expect but at Evil and at Good respectively. Gradually—too gradually, as the author strings out hundreds of pages of Hogwarts-style pranks, classroom mishaps and competitions both academic and romantic—it becomes clear that the placement wasn’t a mistake at all. Growing into their true natures amid revelations and marked physical changes, the two spark escalating rivalry between the wings of the school. This leads up to a vicious climactic fight that sees Good and Evil repeatedly switching sides. At this point, readers are likely to feel suddenly left behind, as, thanks to summary deus ex machina resolutions, everything turns out swell(ish).

Pub Date: May 14, 2013

ISBN: 978-0-06-210489-2

Page Count: 496

Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins

Review Posted Online: Feb. 12, 2013

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2013

CHILDREN'S SCIENCE FICTION & FANTASY | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

More In The Series

ONE TRUE KING

by Soman Chainani ; illustrated by Iacopo Bruno

QUESTS FOR GLORY

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FALL OF THE SCHOOL FOR GOOD AND EVIL

by Soman Chainani ; illustrated by RaidesArt

RISE OF THE SCHOOL FOR GOOD AND EVIL

by Soman Chainani ; illustrated by Julia Iredale

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Netflix Drops ‘School for Good and Evil’ Trailer

BOOK TO SCREEN

MILLIONAIRES FOR THE MONTH

MILLIONAIRES FOR THE MONTH

by Stacy McAnulty ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 1, 2020

Cinematic, over-the-top decadence, a tense race against time, and lessons on what’s truly valuable.

A reward of $5,000,000 almost ruins everything for two seventh graders.

On a class trip to New York City, Felix and Benji find a wallet belonging to social media billionaire Laura Friendly. Benji, a well-off, chaotic kid with learning disabilities, swipes $20 from the wallet before they send it back to its owner. Felix, a poor, shy, rule-follower, reluctantly consents. So when Laura Friendly herself arrives to give them a reward for the returned wallet, she’s annoyed. To teach her larcenous helpers a lesson, Laura offers them a deal: a $20,000 college scholarship or slightly over $5 million cash—but with strings attached. The boys must spend all the money in 30 days, with legal stipulations preventing them from giving anything away, investing, or telling anyone about it. The glorious windfall quickly grows to become a chore and then a torment as the boys appear increasingly selfish and irresponsible to the adults in their lives. They rent luxury cars, hire a (wonderful) philosophy undergrad as a chauffeur, take their families to Disney World, and spend thousands on in-app game purchases. Yet, surrounded by hedonistically described piles of loot and filthy lucre, the boys long for simpler fundamentals. The absorbing spending spree reads like a fun family film, gleefully stuffed with the very opulence it warns against. Major characters are White.

Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2020

ISBN: 978-0-593-17525-5

Page Count: 336

Publisher: Random House

Review Posted Online: June 29, 2020

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2020

CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

More by Stacy McAnulty

I WANT 100 DOGS

by Stacy McAnulty ; illustrated by Claire Keane

FOREVER TWELVE

by Stacy McAnulty

WHERE ARE THE ALIENS?

by Stacy McAnulty ; illustrated by Nicole Miles

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lucky broken girl book review

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Lucky Broken Girl is about so much more than you think…An Interview with Ruth Behar

lucky broken girl book review

Based on the author’s childhood in the 1960s,  Lucky Broken Girl  (2017) is a multicultural coming-of-age novel for young adults. As a former scholar and university professor myself, I am familiar with Ruth Behar’s work.  She is a very successful scholar in academia. I was an undergraduate when I heard her speak about her book,  Translated Woman: Crossing the Border with Esperanza’s story  (1993), a book based on ten years of fieldwork in a rural town in Mexico, and I was a graduate student when her second book,  The Vulnerable Observer: Anthropology That Breaks Your Heart,  came out .  Ms. Behar  was awarded the MacArthur Fellowship, or “Genius Grant”, in 1988.  This is a prize awarded to individuals who have shown “extraordinary originality and dedication in their creative pursuits and a marked capacity for self-direction.”  That said, it is refreshing when scholars (who usually write for very specific/specialized audiences) turn to prose and YA books like  Lucky Broken Girl .

lucky broken girl book review

Ruth Behar:  Thank you, it’s such a pleasure to be in conversation with a fellow cultural anthropologist who is writing fiction! I’ll tell you, it’s been a magical experience for me to write fiction for young readers. I had always wanted to write fiction, but worried I wouldn’t be able to master the craft. I was so accustomed to basing my storytelling on observations, notes, and interviews with real people in real places that I wasn’t sure I’d know how to write from my imagination. Then I discovered that in writing fiction we make use of everything we know and don’t know, all the heartbreaks we’ve ever felt, all the regrets we’ve carried with us all our lives. I drew on that deep well of emotion, and on the memory of my struggles as both an immigrant child and a wounded child, and somehow I found myself writing fiction. Yet there was something ethnographic about the writing. I felt as if the main character, Ruthie, was telling me her story.  She was my “informant.” All I had to do was listen and write her story down. Once I could hear her voice, the writing poured out.

lucky broken girl book review

Ruth Behar:  I considered writing a memoir, but there was so much I didn’t remember about my childhood. I wanted to have the freedom to invent what I didn’t know. Most of all, I wanted the freedom to make things more magical than they had been. There’s a scene where the hospital attendants take Ruthie out on a stretcher to see and touch the snow. It is such a beautiful scene and feels so real. My mother, when she read it, was certain it had actually happened. But in fact I made it up!

lucky broken girl book review

MG:  Before the car accident, Ruthie’s chief goals are to graduate out of the “dumb class” for remedial students, to convince her parents to buy her go-go boots, and to play hopscotch with other kids in her Queens apartment building.  I loved that you were able to write a story about a child’s ability to “bounce back” from adversity and challenge.  Coming of Age story arcs are mostly about resiliency.  So much of your message is about our ability to maintain perspective, move forward, and overcome setbacks. How have your young fans responded to these major themes?

Ruth Behar:   I think the theme of resilience has allowed young readers to identify with the book. All young people have experienced a setback, or felt broken at some time in their lives. How you heal and become whole again after such adversity is an issue that young readers want to learn about. They are searching for ways to be strong, ways to move forward with hope and self-assurance.

MG:  There is so much poetic language, the novel is full of vivid imagery which gives a glimpse into a child’s soul and her journey of self-discovery, what was it like to re-live some of these memories for you?

Ruth Behar:   Writing Lucky Broken Girl was an emotional process for me. Writing about people I loved who are now gone, like my maternal grandmother, brought tears to my eyes. I developed more empathy for my mother and father, as I thought about all the suffering they went through, my mother having to take care of me, and my father having to work three jobs to pay all the medical bills. I thought about my brother and how hard it must have been for him as a little boy to have to cope with a bedridden older sister. And strange as it may seem, I developed empathy for Ruthie, the little girl I had been once. At the time of the injury, I felt everyone’s exasperation as they waited for me to heal. I was often angry with myself that I couldn’t heal faster, that I wasn’t brave when I came out of the cast and didn’t just leap to my feet and start jumping around. Being bedridden for a year was such a traumatic experience that once I healed I tried to forget it happened. I think I became an anthropologist so I could be on the move, traveling from place to place, never being still. I’m glad I finally gave myself the chance to go on a journey into my childhood, an imaginative journey that opened me up to another form of self-discovery.

MG: Ruthie, like so many immigrant children, wants to embrace a better future, but also longs for the comfort of her family home and traditions, you did a great job in portraying this tension.  How do you think that these same concerns play out for young children of immigrants today? What is the same, what has changed?

Ruth Behar:   I think the tension remains similar today, between wanting to hold on to one’s heritage and wanting to embrace the vastness of American culture. What I feel has changed for young children of immigrants today is that there are many more resources now for affirming and celebrating one’s heritage. There are bilingual schools, for example, and there is now a huge multicultural children’s literature, which allows more children to see themselves reflected in books than was true in the past. When I was growing up, there weren’t any children’s books with Cuban-American characters, and now there are many to choose from. But while we have this exciting and growing literature that is bringing the joy of reading to many children, we are living in a tragic time of xenophobia and compassion fatigue about the plight of immigrants. Teaching all children that they belong, that no human being is illegal, has become an urgent mission.

MG:   I love that Ruthie had young immigrant friends, Belgian Danielle and Indian Ramu; her “flower power” tutor, Joy; and her vibrant Mexican neighbor, Chicho, an artist who teaches her about Frida Kahlo. How did you come up with these characters? Were any of them based on true acquaintances?

Ruth Behar:  They are all based on real people I knew, some more fictionalized than others. None of the names were their actual names. Danielle is based on my friend Dinah, who was actually from Belgium, and her mother did make delicious cream puffs for us. Chicho is based on an artsy neighbor I still remember, and Joy is based on my actual tutor, though quite reinvented. Ramu and his brother Avik are based on children who lived in our building but whom I didn’t know well. By writing about them, I wanted to get to know them better. Sadly, the death of Avik as described in the book actually happened and has haunted me (and my brother) since our childhood.

MG:  I love that Ruthie also prays and writes letters to God, Shiva, and Frida Kahlo.  It is the perfect homage to Ms. Kahlo in a novel that I consider to bring the best of intersectionality—ethnicity, religion, class, gender—to Ruthie’s imagination.  In my own novel, my character attends Gloria Anzaldua Middle School.  How do you think that our generation of writers are re-writing coming of age novels?

Ruth Behar:   I’m so glad you love the letters that Ruthie writes in Lucky Broken Girl . Those letters came spontaneously and offered another way to get inside Ruthie’s thoughts and feelings and to see both her spirituality and her spunkiness. Since she’s told by the doctor at the beginning of the story that she should be praying to God, the letters become her way of praying, but she goes beyond God and reaches out to other spirits, like Frida Kahlo, who is the guardian saint of wounded artists. I love how Ruthie questions the limits of her identity and wants to figure out how she can be Jewish and also embrace other forms of spirituality.

I think our generation of writers is connecting with the sources of inspiration that have been meaningful to us as Latinas, as immigrants, as women, as minorities. Frida Kahlo is a force in our lives, as is Gloria Anzaldúa, who I had the pleasure to know personally. We are part of a generation that came of age learning about ethnicity, religion, class gender, in very personal ways, as well as by reading the literature that emerged from concerns about these categories of identity. This is the zeitgeist of our era, to use a term I remember from my early days of discovering anthropology. We are bringing the sense of who we are and how we engage with the world into our coming-of-age novels because that is how we experience and imagine reality.

Ruth, thank you so much for joining Book Club Babble today.  It has been a real pleasure and we look forward to your next project.

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lucky broken girl book review

Review: Lucky Broken Girl by Ruth Behar

lucky broken girl book review

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Lucky Broken Girl

By ruth behar on tour, by ruth behar on tour read by ruth behar, category: children's middle grade books, category: audiobooks | children's middle grade books.

Apr 10, 2018 | ISBN 9780399546457 | 5-1/16 x 7-3/4 --> | Middle Grade (10 and up) | ISBN 9780399546457 --> Buy

Apr 11, 2017 | ISBN 9780399546440 | 5-1/2 x 8-1/4 --> | Middle Grade (10 and up) | ISBN 9780399546440 --> Buy

Apr 11, 2017 | ISBN 9780399546464 | 5-1/2 x 8-1/4 --> | Middle Grade (10 and up) | ISBN 9780399546464 --> Buy

Apr 11, 2017 | 400 Minutes | Middle Grade (10 and up) | ISBN 9781524755065 --> Buy

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Lucky Broken Girl by Ruth Behar

Apr 10, 2018 | ISBN 9780399546457 | Middle Grade (10 and up)

Apr 11, 2017 | ISBN 9780399546440 | Middle Grade (10 and up)

Apr 11, 2017 | ISBN 9780399546464 | Middle Grade (10 and up)

Apr 11, 2017 | ISBN 9781524755065 | Middle Grade (10 and up)

400 Minutes

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About Lucky Broken Girl

Winner of the 2018 Pura Belpre Award! “A book for anyone mending from childhood wounds.”—Sandra Cisneros, author of The House on Mango Street   In this unforgettable multicultural coming-of-age narrative—based on the author’s childhood in the 1960s—a young Cuban-Jewish immigrant girl is adjusting to her new life in New York City when her American dream is suddenly derailed. Ruthie’s plight will intrigue readers, and her powerful story of strength and resilience, full of color, light, and poignancy, will stay with them for a long time.   Ruthie Mizrahi and her family recently emigrated from Castro’s Cuba to New York City. Just when she’s finally beginning to gain confidence in her mastery of English—and enjoying her reign as her neighborhood’s hopscotch queen—a horrific car accident leaves her in a body cast and confined her to her bed for a long recovery. As Ruthie’s world shrinks because of her inability to move, her powers of observation and her heart grow larger and she comes to understand how fragile life is, how vulnerable we all are as human beings, and how friends, neighbors, and the power of the arts can sweeten even the worst of times.

Listen to a sample from Lucky Broken Girl

Also by ruth behar.

Across So Many Seas

About Ruth Behar

Ruth Behar, the Pura Belpré Award–winning author of Lucky Broken Girl, was born in Havana, Cuba, grew up in New York, and has also lived in Spain and Mexico. In addition to writing for young people, her work includes poetry,… More about Ruth Behar

Product Details

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“ Lucky Broken Girl takes us into a world that is at once deeply familiar and astonishingly new—the world of young people negotiating English as a second language, of families being forced from their homelands, of bodies learning to move (and not move), and of friendships across cultural divides. But most of all, it is the world of Ruthie, an unforgettable character whom I grew to love and cheer for.” —Jacqueline Woodson, author of Brown Girl Dreaming “Reading Lucky Broken Girl feels like meeting a courageous new friend who will be with you forever. Ruth Behar succeeds at infusing her tale of heartbreak and suffering with a glorious celebration of forgiveness and hope.” —Margarita Engle, author of The Surrender Tree   “A powerful story of fortitude and courage that will remain in the hearts of young readers.” —Marjorie Agosín, author of I Lived on Butterfly Hill   “In the shadow of tragedy, little Ruthie finds the light of love and optimism. Although it indeed takes a village to raise a child, her story of resilience and triumph reminds us that sometimes it takes a child like Ruthie to raise a village. An engaging and magical read for children and adults alike.” —Richard Blanco, author of The Prince of Los Cocuyos: A Miami Childhood   * “A cultural anthropologist and poet, the author based the book on her own childhood experiences, so it’s unsurprising that Ruthie’s story rings true. The language is lyrical and rich, the intersectionality—ethnicity, religion, class, gender—insightful, and the story remarkably engaging. . . . A poignant and relevant retelling of a child immigrant’s struggle to recover from an accident and feel at home in America.” — Kirkus Reviews , starred review “Behar’s first middle grade novel, a fictionalized telling of her own childhood experiences in the 1960s, is a sweet and thoughtful read, slowly but strongly paced, and filled with a wealth of detail that makes the characters live. Both poetic and straightforward, this title will appeal to young readers with its respect for their experiences and its warm portrayal of a diverse community. In addition to Ruthie’s realistic and personal voice, the novel’s strength is in its complex portrayal of the immigrant experience, with overlapping stories of who goes and who comes and the paths they travel. Recommended and relatable. Hand this to fans of Rita Williams-Garcia and those who loved The Secret Garden .” — School Library Journal “Strongly sketched novel. . . . Readers will get a powerful sense of the historical setting through Ruthie’s narration, but the novel is perhaps defined even more by her family’s status as immigrants and by its memorable multicultural cast. . . . Behar successfully juggles several engaging plot threads, and Ruthie’s complicated relationship with her mother, given the demands of her care, is especially compelling.” — Publishers Weekly “From facing feelings about the boys who caused her accident, to finding herself in painting and writing, to learning that she isn’t ‘slow’ just because English isn’t her first language, Ruthie faces everything with an impressive inner strength. Fans of character-driven middle-grade novels, particularly those looking for diverse books, should be easily charmed by Behar’s story, which is inspired by her own childhood as a Cuban immigrant in 1960s New York and her first-hand experience of surviving a car crash and spending a year in a full-body cast (an author’s note offers some illuminating details).” — Booklist “[Ruthie] smoothly integrates the layered immigration stories of her grandmother, Ramu’s family, her Mexican neighbor, and her own family, giving her story a pleasing accessibility that complements and expands impressions young readers may have of immigration, urban life, and coming back after tragedy.” — The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books “A touching story about friendships and losses, forgiveness and fear, vulnerability and determination, prayer and patience. . . . An exceptionally diverse case of characters and perspectives. . . . Teens will likely find the many lessons Ruthie learns to be valuable and often insightful.” — Voice of Youth Advocates “An unflinchingly honest first-person narrative . . . (an appended note provides more context and encourages readers to ‘speak up. Tell your story’). Effectively scattered Spanish phrases lend authenticity, while period references evoke the 1960s setting.” — The Horn Book * “[Ruthie’s] world is so tangible that readers will feel they’re sitting on the stoop of the Mizrahis’ apartment building. But even these details pale beside the emotional clarity of Ruthie’s voice. In particular, her prayers at the end of most chapters recall the candid petitions of Judy Blume’s Margaret . Equal parts heartbroken and hopeful, Ruthie is a middle grade heroine for the ages. . . . Emotionally true and unexpectedly funny.” — Shelf Awareness , starred review

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Book Review: Lucky Broken Girl

Lucky Broken Girl

Lucky Broken Girl is about a Girl named Ruthie and her family, who moved to America from Cuba. Ruthie's English is starting to improve and she is making friends at her new school. But that all changes when she gets into a car accident, and breaks both of her legs. She has to spend a year in a cast and she has to relearn how to walk once it is off. I really liked this book because it was emotional. I laughed and cried while reading this book. I liked how the characters were written, I thought they had a lot of personality. I also really liked the plot. Overall I thought this book was very enjoyable to read.

lucky broken girl book review

Lucky Broken Girl

Ruth Behar | 4.28 | 3,271 ratings and reviews

Ranked #79 in Cuba

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Lucky Broken Girl

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Summary and Study Guide

Lucky Broken Girl is a middle-grade historical novel by Ruth Behar. Main character Ruthie Mizrahi , an immigrant from Cuba, lives with her parents and brother in 1966 Queens. Together they try to quell their homesickness for Cuba while seeking new opportunities in America. When a car accident injures Ruthie, she becomes bedridden in a full body cast for over a year; during that time, challenges and fears she never anticipated give her a new perspective on life and luck. The novel, first published in 2017, draws heavily on Behar’s own childhood experiences and earned her the 2018 Pura Belpré Author Award. This guide follows the 2017 edition from Nancy Paulsen Books, an imprint of Penguin Random House.

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Ten-year-old immigrant Ruth Mizrahi lives in Queens, a borough of New York City, in 1966. She and her family recently emigrated there from Cuba, leaving behind Fidel Castro’s communist rule. Ruthie works hard at school, learns English, and enjoys playing hopscotch after school with Danielle, a girl her age from Belgium. Mami tends the apartment and cooks meals while Papi works two jobs. Ruthie’s grandparents, as well as her Aunt Sylvia and Uncle Bill, live in the same building; other relatives and friends who also emigrated from Cuba live in different parts of New York.

Papi wants to take advantage of all the opportunities in America. He purchases an automobile with a loan from the bank. On the first day the family takes the car on a drive to visit friends, they are victims of a terrible accident. A young man, driving without permission and after drinking, loses control of his vehicle; it crosses the center barricade and hits the car in front of the Mizrahis, which then crashes into them. Injuries to Mami, Papi, Ruthie’s brother Isaac (Izzie), and Ruthie’s grandmother Baba are minor, but Ruthie sustains a badly broken leg that requires surgery and a week’s stay in the hospital.

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A doctor named Friendlich treats Ruthie and decides to place her in a body cast to prevent one leg from growing at a faster rate than the other. The cast goes from her toes to her chest; a metal pole between her ankles helps her parents flip her from back to stomach; openings in the cast allow her to use a bedpan. The doctor tells the Mizrahis they cannot move Ruthie from her bed for months.

Once settled back in their one-bedroom apartment, Ruthie must contend with boredom and fear. Mami suffers the majority of the burden of Ruthie’s care; she frequently lets others (including Ruthie) know that she is frustrated by the isolation and hard work Ruthie’s condition causes. Visitors stare and speak awkwardly to Ruthie before leaving quickly. Even her friend Danielle visits only once and stays just an uncomfortable minute. However, Ruthie’s friend Ramu Sharma writes her a note and sneaks in to visit despite his mother’s rule that he cannot be friends with non-Indian children. Ruthie sees that he is genuinely concerned about her, but when Ramu’s little brother tragically dies, the Sharmas return to India.

A new neighbor, Chicho , moves into the Sharmas’ apartment. Chicho is different from most visitors; he genuinely cares for Ruthie, paints fun images on her cast, and provides her with supplies so she can learn to paint as well.

Ruthie gets a replacement body cast for several more months; then Dr. Friendlich replaces this with a cast on her still-broken leg for two additional months. Finally, he removes the cast and gives her crutches. As her casts disappear, more fear sets in; Ruthie feels she may never remember how to walk. Two nurses give up on her because her resistance frustrates them; a third nurse, Amara , sticks with Ruthie and with a tough-love approach teaches her to walk on crutches. When it is time to give up the crutches and walk on her own two feet, Ruthie receives additional encouragement from Chicho and Danielle, eventually surmounting her fear of learning to walk again. Over the course of her healing time, Ruthie learns more about her family, friends, neighbors, and herself, developing a more mature understanding of what it means to be “lucky.”

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Lucky Broken Girl

Book review by maria ramos-chartok.

Ruthie Mizrahi and her family recently emigrated from Castro’s Cuba to New York City. Just when she’s finally beginning to gain confidence in her mastery of English—and enjoying her reign as her neighborhood’s hopscotch queen—a horrific car accident leaves her in a body cast and confined her to her bed for a long recovery.

As Ruthie’s world shrinks because of her inability to move, her powers of observation and her heart grow larger and she comes to understand how fragile life is, how vulnerable we all are as human beings, and how friends, neighbors, and the power of the arts can sweeten even the worst of times. Continue reading .

5 Stars

Synopsis: "A book for anyone mending from childhood wounds."--Sandra Cisneros, author of The House on Mango Street   In this unforgettable multicultural coming-of-age narrative--based on the author's childhood in the 1960s--a young Cuban-Jewish immigrant girl is adjusting to her new life in New York City when her American dream is suddenly derailed. Ruthie's plight will intrigue readers, and her powerful story of strength and resilience, full of color, light, and poignancy, will stay with them for a long time.   Ruthie Mizrahi and her family recently emigrated from Castro's Cuba to New York City. Just when she's finally beginning to gain confidence in her mastery of English--and enjoying her reign as her neighborhood's hopscotch queen--a horrific car accident leaves her in a body cast and confined her to her bed for a long recovery. As Ruthie's world shrinks because of her inability to move, her powers of observation and her heart grow larger and she comes to understand how fragile life is, how vulnerable we all are as human beings, and how friends, neighbors, and the power of the arts can sweeten even the worst of times.

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The Children's Book Review

Five Family Favorites with Ruth Behar, Author of Lucky Broken Girl

Guest Posts

Ruth Behar |  The Children’s Book Review  | April 30, 2017

I read many books to my son Gabriel when he was a little boy. Somehow the years have passed and Gabriel has now turned thirty and is soon to be married. Lately I buy children’s books anticipating I might share them with a grandchild one day. Also, having recently leapt into the field of young people’s literature, I am trying to catch up fast with the amazing books that are being written for kids, as well as with the classics I missed out on when I was growing up. I was born in Cuba and arrived with my family to Queens, New York in the early 1960s. They placed me in a first-grade class before I knew a word of English. My parents struggled to make ends meet. Since they didn’t know English either, they couldn’t read books aloud to my brother and me, though my mother sang lullabies to us in Spanish. In any case, books were a luxury. The only way I could acquire books, beyond those I got in school, was by borrowing them from the bookmobile, a great invention for those of us in marginal neighborhoods. All the books I read to Gabriel in the late 1980s and early 1990s were books I discovered with him, creating for my son an American childhood in Ann Arbor, Michigan that was nothing like my childhood as an immigrant kid in New York. Here are five classic books we read and reread, while my thoughts sometimes wandered.

Written and Illustrated by Ludwig Bemelmans

Gabriel and I enjoyed reading Madeline together. I thought it a good idea to show my son that girls are every bit as brave as boys and he seemed to take in that message without much fanfare. After her appendix is removed, Madeline proudly shows off the scar on her stomach to the girls from her boarding school when they come visit her at the hospital. This feisty girl brought back memories of my friend, Dinah, who was from Belgium and spoke French, and seemed very sophisticated to me when we were girls growing up in working-class Queens.

(Simon and Schuster, 1939).

Order a Copy Now:  Indiebound | Amazon | Barnes and Noble

Ages 3-7 | Publisher: The Viking Press | 1967 | ISBN-13: 978-0670445806

Caps for Sale: A Tale of a Peddler, Some Monkeys, and Their Monkey Business

Written and Illustrated by Esphyr Slobodkina

This endearing book, with its captivating illustrations, made Gabriel laugh whenever the mischievous monkeys fiddled with the pile of caps on the peddler’s head. My son was still too young for me to tell him that both his Jewish great-grandfathers were street peddlers when they arrived in Cuba escaping pogroms in Russia and the army in Turkey. It brought tears to my eyes to imagine the hardship they suffered going from door to door in the sweltering heat trying to sell their wares and begin a new life on a tropical island. “Why are you crying, Mommy?” Gabriel would ask. I’d smile and say, “I’ll tell you when you grow up.”

(W. R. Scott, 1940).

Ages 4-8 | Publisher: HarperCollins | 1987 (Reissue) | ISBN-13: 978-0064431439

The Runaway Bunny

Written by Margaret Wise Brown

Illustrated by Clement Hurd

Some have said that The Runaway Bunny is a tender book, reassuring children that their mothers will never abandon them, while others find it creepy, the mother a little too omnipresent and stalking her child. I understand both perspectives, but I fall a little more on the positive side of the spectrum as the fear of abandonment was very strong in me as a child. After we left Cuba, my parents were overwhelmed with financial and other worries and I craved their attention. I had to fend for myself from a young age. Reading The Runaway Bunny to Gabriel, I came to feel more secure as a mother. With each reading, I made a vow to always be there for him. I also counted our blessings. Thankfully, we were living in a quiet place, from which I prayed we’d never have to uproot ourselves.

(HarperCollins, 1942).

Ages 4-8 | Publisher: HarperCollins | 2017 (Revised) | ISBN-13: 978-0064430180

Chicken Soup with Rice: A Book of Months

Written and Illustrated by Maurice Sendak

We read all of Maurice Sendak’s books for children, including, of course, the incomparable Where the Wild Things Are . But there was something especially wonderful about Chicken Soup with Rice. This was before The Chicken Soup for the Soul book series. It was comforting to read aloud the repetitive chant, “Happy once/happy twice/happy chicken soup/with rice.” Our little family of three had moved to Michigan, where I’d found a job as a professor, far from my mother in New York and my grandmother in Miami Beach. I really missed Mami’s and Baba’s chicken soup. My chicken soup didn’t come close to their healing brew. I was grateful to Sendak for helping me teach Gabriel to add rice to soup, which is so utterly delicious.

(HarperCollins, 1962)

Ages 4-8 | Publisher: HarperCollins | 1991 (Reprint) | ISBN-13: 978-0064432535

Jorge el Curioso

Written by Margret Rey and H. A. Rey

Illustrated by H. A. Rey

Latino literature for kids was just about to burst on the scene in the early 1990s when Gabriel was young enough to be read to. We missed the era, soon to come, of children’s books by Cuban-American writers Alma Flor Ada and Margarita Engle. The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros, which appeared in 1984 with a Latino press, was not yet widely known; it would be a few years before it was heralded as a pioneering work of young people’s literature with a Latina as the main character. At the time, I was excited when I learned that Curious George had been translated into Spanish. I spoke Spanish to Gabriel almost exclusively, but wasn’t sure if he was learning it. As I read Jorge el Curioso to him, I realized he understood Spanish perfectly and that made me very happy. I noticed that the translator had chosen to translate “monkey” as “ monito ,” using the diminutive to show how cute Jorge was, rather than the more proper, but distancing, “ mono .” We use diminutives constantly in Cuban Spanish, so I felt at home in the translation. I remember wishing I’d been able to read every book to Gabriel in bilingual editions. I think it is marvelous that we live in a time now of many more diverse books and many more translated books. Let’s please hold on to that and continue building bridges between all our languages and cultures.

(Houghton Mifflin, 1941, translated into Spanish, 1990).

Ages 4-7 | Publisher: HMH Books for Young Readers | 2011 (Bilingual) | ISBN-13: 978-0547523101

Lucky Broken Girl

Written by Ruth Behar

Publisher’s Synopsis: In this unforgettable multicultural coming-of-age narrative—based on the author’s childhood in the 1960s—a young Cuban-Jewish immigrant girl is adjusting to her new life in New York City when her American dream is suddenly derailed. Ruthie’s plight will intrigue readers, and her powerful story of strength and resilience, full of color, light, and poignancy, will stay with them for a long time.

Ruthie Mizrahi and her family recently emigrated from Castro’s Cuba to New York City. Just when she’s finally beginning to gain confidence in her mastery of English—and enjoying her reign as her neighborhood’s hopscotch queen—a horrific car accident leaves her in a body cast and confined her to her bed for a long recovery. As Ruthie’s world shrinks because of her inability to move, her powers of observation and her heart grow larger and she comes to understand how fragile life is, how vulnerable we all are as human beings, and how friends, neighbors, and the power of the arts can sweeten even the worst of times.

Ages 10+ | Publisher: Nancy Paulsen Books | April 11, 2017 | ISBN-13: 978-0399546440

Available Here:

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About the Author

Ruth Behar ( www.ruthbehar.com ) is an acclaimed author of adult fiction and nonfiction, and Lucky Broken Girl is her first book for young readers. She was born in Havana, Cuba, grew up in New York City, and has also lived and worked in Spain and Mexico. An anthropology professor at the University of Michigan, she is also co-editor of Women Writing Culture , editor of Bridges to Cuba/Puentes a Cuba , and co-editor of The Portable Island: Cubans at Home in the World . Her honors include a MacArthur “Genius” Award, a John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship, a Fulbright Senior Fellowship, and a Distinguished Alumna Award from Wesleyan University. Much in demand as a public speaker, Ruth’s speaking engagements have taken her to the United States, Canada, Argentina, Mexico, Cuba, Spain, Finland, Israel, Italy, Ireland, Poland, England, the Netherlands, Japan, and New Zealand. She lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Ruth Behar, author of Lucky Broken Girl , selected these five family favorites. Discover more articles on  The Children’s Book Review  tagged with  Family Favorites .

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IMAGES

  1. Review: Lucky Broken Girl by Ruth Behar

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  2. Lucky Broken Girl Book Review and Ratings by Kids

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  3. Lucky Broken Girl by. Ruth Behar 2017 Paperback Penguin Young

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COMMENTS

  1. Lucky Broken Girl by Ruth Behar

    3.96. 4,644 ratings861 reviews. Based on the author's childhood in the 1960s, a young Cuban-Jewish immigrant girl is adjusting to her new life in New York City when her American dream is suddenly derailed. Ruthie Mizrahi and her family recently emigrated from Castro's Cuba to New York City. Just when she's finally beginning to gain confidence ...

  2. LUCKY BROKEN GIRL

    A poignant and relevant retelling of a child immigrant's struggle to recover from an accident and feel at home in America. (Historical fiction. 10-13) 5. Pub Date: April 11, 2017. ISBN: 978--399-54644-. Page Count: 256. Publisher: Nancy Paulsen Books. Review Posted Online: Feb. 3, 2017. Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2017.

  3. Lucky Broken Girl is about so much more than you ...

    Lucky Broken Girl is the story of Ruthie Mizrahi and her family. They have recently emigrated from Castro's Cuba to New York City. In this story, we encounter a young child who is finally beginning to gain confidence in her mastery of English in a new country. Ms. Behar's work is an inspiring and moving story about […]

  4. Lucky Broken Girl Book Review and Ratings by Kids

    Lucky Broken Girl has 26 reviews and 23 ratings. Reviewer moonlight2011 wrote: "it's cool" Lucky Broken Girl has 26 reviews and 23 ratings. ... If you are looking for a meaningful, quick read, I suggest this book. It is the story of a young girl, Ruthie, who has just moved into a small apartment in New York from Cuba. Finally beginning to ...

  5. Review: Lucky Broken Girl by Ruth Behar

    Review: Lucky Broken Girl by Ruth Behar. Summary (from the inside flap of the book): When Ruthie Mizrahi moves with her family from her homeland of Cuba to the bustling streets of New York, it's a lot to take in. New sights, new sounds, and a new language. But Ruthie is adjusting. She's already mastering English and has made some new friends.

  6. Lucky Broken Girl: Behar, Ruth: 9780399546440: Amazon.com: Books

    Lucky Broken Girl. Hardcover - April 11, 2017. Winner of the 2018 Pura Belpre Award! In this unforgettable multicultural coming-of-age narrative—based on the author's childhood in the 1960s—a young Cuban-Jewish immigrant girl is adjusting to her new life in New York City when her American dream is suddenly derailed.

  7. Lucky Broken Girl

    Ruth Behar's heartfelt story, Lucky Broken Girl, is a book that reminds us how the broken places inside can heal. - Sandra Cisneros - Author of The House on Mango Street and recipient of the National Medal of Arts. In the shadow of tragedy and fear, little Ruthie, our lucky, broken girl, finds the light of love and optimism.

  8. Lucky Broken Girl by Ruth Behar: 9780399546457

    About Lucky Broken Girl. Winner of the 2018 Pura Belpre Award!"A book for anyone mending from childhood wounds."—Sandra Cisneros, author of The House on Mango Street In this unforgettable multicultural coming-of-age narrative—based on the author's childhood in the 1960s—a young Cuban-Jewish immigrant girl is adjusting to her new ...

  9. Amazon.com: Customer reviews: Lucky Broken Girl

    5.0 out of 5 starsMy heart got all wrapped up in Ruthie's character and journey. Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on October 17, 2020. A beautiful book that gives us a glimpse into many families who have journeyed from one culture to the United States, embracing the beauty of their own land and culture while facing the hope of their new ...

  10. Book Review: Lucky Broken Girl

    Review. Lucky Broken Girl is about a Girl named Ruthie and her family, who moved to America from Cuba. Ruthie's English is starting to improve and she is making friends at her new school. But that all changes when she gets into a car accident, and breaks both of her legs. She has to spend a year in a cast and she has to relearn how to walk once ...

  11. Lucky Broken Girl

    Lucky Broken Girl is the heart-warming, courageous, somewhat autobiographical story of author Ruth Behar. A story with so many underlying themes will surely touch the heart of any reader. It is 1963 and Ruthie is a recent immigrant from Cuba, having just arrived with her parents and little brother. Life is harder than she thought it […]

  12. Book Reviews: Lucky Broken Girl, by Ruth Behar (Updated for 2021)

    Based on the author's childhood in the 1960s, a young Cuban-Jewish immigrant girl is adjusting to her new life in New York City when her American dream is suddenly derailed. Ruthie Mizrahi and her family recently emigrated from Castro's Cuba to New York City.

  13. PDF Ruth Behar's Lucky Broken Girl. A review by JULIE SCHWIETERT COLLAZO

    hoping that Lucky Broken Girl will make it into the hands of many girls who will need to read that message that Behar delivers so sensitively and beautifully. Lucky Broken Girl Ruth Behar Nancy Paulsen Books, an imprint of Penguin Random House April 11, 2017 256 pages ISBN-10: 0399546448 Ruth Behar's Lucky Broken Girl.

  14. PDF Book Review: Lucky Broken Girl, by Ruth Behar

    Book Review: Lucky Broken Girl , by Ruth Behar Sareena Naganand The memoir, Lucky Broken Girl, written by Ruth Behar, is a poignant, middle-grade work that captures the story of young, adolescent 'Ruthie'. A refugee from Communist Cuba, Ruthie immigrated to Queens, New York with her Jewish parents, grandparents, and her little ...

  15. Lucky Broken Girl Summary and Study Guide

    Lucky Broken Girl is a middle-grade historical novel by Ruth Behar. Main character Ruthie Mizrahi, an immigrant from Cuba, lives with her parents and brother in 1966 Queens.Together they try to quell their homesickness for Cuba while seeking new opportunities in America. When a car accident injures Ruthie, she becomes bedridden in a full body cast for over a year; during that time, challenges ...

  16. Lucky Broken Girl

    Lucky Broken Girl by Ruth Behar Published by Penguin on 2017 Genres: Immigration and Emigration, Latinx Pages: 256 Reading Level: Grades 6-8 ISBN: 9780399546440 Review Source: Latinx in Kid Lit Buy at Powell's Books. Synopsis: "A book for anyone mending from childhood wounds."--Sandra Cisneros, author of The House on Mango Street In this unforgettable multicultural coming-of-age narrative ...

  17. Ruth Behar Author

    ★ Publishers Weekly, starred review. Powerful and Resonant. ★ Kirkus ... She made her fiction debut with her Pura Belpré Award-Winning novel, Lucky Broken Girl, which explores how the worst of wounds can teach a child a ... Tía Fortuna's New Home, is a lyrical ode to cultural memory and heritage, and her picture book, Pepita Meets ...

  18. Lucky Broken Girl

    Ruth Behar, the Pura Belpré Award-winning author of Lucky Broken Girl, was born in Havana, Cuba, grew up in New York, and has also lived in Spain and Mexico.In addition to writing for young people, her work includes poetry, memoir, and the acclaimed travel books An Island Called Home and Traveling Heavy, which explore her return journeys to Cuba and her search for home.

  19. Lucky Broken Girl: Behar, Ruth: 9780399546457: Amazon.com: Books

    Lucky Broken Girl. Paperback - April 10, 2018. Winner of the 2018 Pura Belpre Award! In this unforgettable multicultural coming-of-age narrative—based on the author's childhood in the 1960s—a young Cuban-Jewish immigrant girl is adjusting to her new life in New York City when her American dream is suddenly derailed.

  20. Lucky Broken Girl: Behar, Ruth, Behar, Ruth: 9781524755058: Amazon.com

    Lucky Broken Girl. Audio CD - Audiobook, April 11, 2017. Winner of the 2018 Pura Belpre Award! In this unforgettable multicultural coming-of-age narrative—based on the author's childhood in the 1960s—a young Cuban-Jewish immigrant girl is adjusting to her new life in New York City when her American dream is suddenly derailed.

  21. Five Family Favorites with Ruth Behar, Author of Lucky Broken Girl

    Ages 10+ | Publisher: Nancy Paulsen Books | April 11, 2017 | ISBN-13: 978-0399546440. Available Here: About the Author. Ruth Behar (www.ruthbehar.com) is an acclaimed author of adult fiction and nonfiction, and Lucky Broken Girl is her first book for young readers. She was born in Havana, Cuba, grew up in New York City, and has also lived and ...

  22. Lucky Broken Girl Kindle Edition

    Lucky Broken Girl Kindle Edition. Lucky Broken Girl. Kindle Edition. Winner of the 2018 Pura Belpre Award! In this unforgettable multicultural coming-of-age narrative—based on the author's childhood in the 1960s—a young Cuban-Jewish immigrant girl is adjusting to her new life in New York City when her American dream is suddenly derailed.

  23. Lucky Broken Girl

    Lucky Broken Girl exemplifies the "Coming to America" experience of immigrant children through Ruthie Mizrahi, a 10-year-old girl of Cuban-Jewish descent living in New York City. ... Book reviews & recommendations: IMDb Movies, TV & Celebrities: IMDbPro Get Info Entertainment Professionals Need: Kindle Direct Publishing Indie Digital & Print ...