Waiting on Wednesday: The Secret Side of Empty

 

The Secret Side of Empty 

Maria E. Andreu

PD: 03.11.14 by Running Press Kids 

Summary: 

What's it like to be undocumented?  High school senior M.T. knows all too well.  With graduation and an uncertain future looming, she must figure out how to grow up in the only country she's ever called home... a country in which she's "illegal."

 

M.T. was born in Argentina and brought to America as a baby without any official papers. And as questions of college, work, and the future arise, M.T. will have to decide what exactly she wants for herself, knowing someone she loves will unavoidably pay the price for it.  On the way, M.T. must navigate first love, letting go of her childhood friends as they begin a life she can't share, a difficult relationship with a father who grew up a world away and a mother struggling to find her way in America.  What is it like when the only country you've ever known says you don't belong?

In high school, my parents, well, mom, really, wanted me to be fluent in a foreign language if nothing else to help me feel cultured. I just liked the fact that if I took four years in high school it was automatically waived in college. I spent every summer practically living with a girl and her family so I could immerse myself into their world: learning about their traditions, their way of life. Her family had a strictly no English rule the moment I stepped into their house. I don't know how many times I asked for a dishwasher when I meant to say banana. For the longest time, I had no idea my friend was a product of undocumented parents. I'm curious to see how this book depicts the struggles my friend went through and how the main characters struggles bring her to ultimate goal.