When We Make It by Elizabeth Velasquez

Velasquez, Elizabeth. When We Make It.  Dial Books, 2021. ISBN 9780593324486 

Plot

Sarai is a first-generation Puerto Rican eighth grader with the gift of seeing clearly the truth, the struggles, and beauty of the world  her Bushwick apartment and community. She has an older sister Estrella, and together live through the strife of intergenerational traumas and the systemic pressures of toxic masculinity and housing insecurity in gentrifying Brooklyn. Sarai is constantly questions society's norms, community surrounding her (drug addiction, houselessness, hunger) and Boricua identity. 

Critical Evaluation 

Story told in verse, of where we find in the foreword, Velasquez shares it is based on her own life growing up in Bushwick.. The struggles of mental illness,  gentrification, food and home insecurity, and how they inter-relate are issues she herself dealt with in her family or with people closest to her. As in verse storytelling done well, so much is said with the few words on the page.  Purpose, intention and flow are well used in the book. She appeals to first generation folks reading the book as she engages with her relationship to the motherland that she may not feel too connected to due to ideas of what it means to be Puerto Rican. 

Reader's Annotation 

Story of a young Puerto Rican teen, who navigates living in Bushwick during a time of rapid gentrification, and facing economic struggle, and being true to herself. 

Author Information

Elisabet Velasquez is a Boricua writer born in Bushwick, Brooklyn. Her work has been featured in Muzzle Magazine, Winter Tangerine, Latina Magazine, We Are Mitú, Tidal and more. She is a 2017 Poets House fellow and the 2017 winner of the Button Poetry Video Contest. Her work is featured in Martín Espada’s anthology What Saves Us: Poems of Empathy and Outrage in the Age of Trump. Elisabeth lives in Jersey City, New Jersey, and When We Make It is her debut novel.

Source: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/authors/2239925/elisabet-velasquez/

Genre

Realistic Fiction;  In Verse 

BookTalking Ideas

I will refer to Elizabeth Velasquez talking about being a statistic because she became a teen mother. How did she flip the script and take out the shame from the line, becoming a statistic. 

Reading Level/Age Interest

Age: 14-17 

Reading level: 9 -12 Grades 

Challenge Issues

Profanity, drugs, toxic masculinity, rape. I will defend with the Library Bill of Rights, Los Angeles County Library Collection Policy and a listening ear, and hopefully supportive staff. 

Why I Included This Book in Collections 

Books that challenge toxic masculinity, and are centered in place such as Bushwick NY, and told from the perspective of a young Puerto Rican girl, have key elements for all young people to learn about and reflect on, which many are going through these issues. Latino/as of different backgrounds need to see themselves in books. 

Q & A: Elizabeth Velasquez, Author of 'When We Make It"