Spring 2019, Wild Readers 5 discussion

For this review I have decided to encourage my peers to read Reyna Grande’s memoir, The Distance Between Us. This book is significant to our daily lives as future teachers. In our future classes we will have many students who may be like Reyna and her siblings. Reyna was born in Mexico. In her early life her father left to the United States in search of a better paying job to provide for their family. One day the mother decided it was necessary to join her husband due to the need of money. She then left Reyna and her 2 siblings with their grandmother who would mistreat them. Once they were older, they also went to the United States, but there they faced many obstacles. For example, learning a new language, new family members, and accepting the fact that they had no connection with their parents because they were separated for too many years. Although there was many obstacles, Reyna took the challenge and pursued her college career and later got her B.A in literature/creative writing. This book symbolizes the importance of what an undocumented child can accomplish if we have faith in them. This book is also a real life situation that we may face in classrooms without knowing it. These kids did not have someone to guide them at home or show them support. Their parents expected them to do in school but instead of showing them support, they demanded it. This book is one of my ultimate favorites and highly recommend other to read it.