Aniana del Mar Jumps In
Pura Belpré Author Honor Award
** Four starred reviews!**
A powerful and expertly told novel-in-verse by about a 12-year-old Dominican American swimmer who is diagnosed with Juvenile Arthritis by an award-winning poet.
Aniana del Mar belongs in the water like a dolphin belongs to the sea. But she and Papi keep her swim practices and meets hidden from Mami, who has never recovered from losing someone she loves to the water years ago. That is, until the day Ani’s stiffness and swollen joints mean she can no longer get out of bed, and Ani is forced to reveal just how important swimming is to her. Mami forbids her from returning to the water but Ani and her doctor believe that swimming along with medication will help Ani manage her disease. What follows is the journey of a girl who must grieve who she once was in order to rise like the tide and become the young woman she is meant to be. Aniana del Mar Jumps In is a poignant story about chronic illness and disability, the secrets between mothers and daughters, the harm we do to the ones we love the most—and all the triumphs, big and small, that keep us afloat.
"Beautiful in its honesty and vulnerability, this is a powerful story about dreams and bodily agency that sings from the heart.”—Natalia Sylvester, award-winning author of Breathe and Count Back From Ten
# of Pages: 384
Book Binding: Paperback
Year of Publication: 2024
Publisher: Dial Books
Language: en
ISBN: 9780593531839
Jasminne Mendez is an award-winning author, poet, and performer from Houston, Texas. Her work explores themes of identity, family, and the immigrant experience through a unique blend of poetry, fiction, and memoir. Mendez holds an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Texas at El Paso and is a CantoMundo and Macondo Fellow. She has been featured in numerous literary journals and anthologies, and her debut poetry collection, "Island of Dreams," was published in 2013. In addition to writing, Mendez is a co-founder of Tintero Projects, a grassroots organization that promotes and supports emerging Latinx writers. "Aniana del Mar Jumps In" is her first children's book.