I Wanna Be Your Shoebox

Name: I Wanna Be Your Shoebox
Brand: Penguin Random House
Availability: InStock
Author: Cristina García
ISBN: 9780739366820

Author: Cristina García

Narrator: Zinnia Su

Unabridged: 4 hr 34 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download (DRM Protected)

Publisher: Listening Library

Published: 08/12/2008

Categories: Children's Fiction, Children's Social Themes, School

Synopsis

Because Yumi Ruíz-Hirsch has grandparents from Japan, Cuba, and Brooklyn, her mother calls her a poster child for the twenty-first century. Yumi would laugh if only her life wasn’t getting as complicated as her heritage. All of a sudden she’s starting eighth grade with a girl who collects tinfoil and a boy who dresses like a squid. Her mom's found a new boyfriend, and her punk-rock father still can't sell a song. She's losing her house; she’s losing her school orchestra. And worst of all she's losing her grandfather Saul.

Yumi wishes everything could stay the same. But as she listens to Saul tell his story, she learns that nobody ever asks you if you're ready for life to happen. It just happens. The choice is either to sit and watch or to join the dance.

National Book Award finalist Cristina García’s first middle-grade novel celebrates the chaotic, crazy, and completely amazing patchwork that makes up our lives.

About The Author

Cristina GarcÍa was born in Havana, Cuba, and grew up in New York City. She's written several novels, including the National Book Award finalist Dreaming in Cuban and A Handbook to Luck. Her work frequently explores the nature of identity and the sometimes absurd places it takes us. She published her first picture book, The Dog Who Loved the Moon, in spring 2008. She lives in California with her daughter, Pilar, and a hundred-pound puppy named Rio.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Jennifer on November 10, 2012

Reviewed by JodiG. for TeensReadToo.com Everybody has one perfect moment in time upon which they will someday look back and think, "that was when everything changed." For Yumi Ruíz-Hirsch, that moment is here. Yumi lives in a perfect cross-blend of cultures and ethnicity that make her so identifiable......more

Goodreads review by Katie on June 22, 2009

Well-written with a super endearing main character. Yumi is part Cuban, part Japanese and part Russian Jew, but this book isn't really about that...it's more to do with her relationships with her family, friends, and how the heck to save the school orchestra. Although I really liked this book, I hav......more

Goodreads review by Jessica on January 22, 2009

I am not a big fan of realistic fiction, but I enjoyed this one. When I finished though all I could think was, "this is the most well adjusted 13 year old around."......more

Goodreads review by Sandy on December 30, 2008

Christina Garcia seems to have created the ultimate in non-didactic multicultural literature in the central character of her novel I Wanna Be Your Shoebox. Yumi Ruiz-Hirsch is part Cuban, part Japanese, and part Jewish. But she is also part musician, part surfer, and part historian. Yumi's eighth gr......more

Goodreads review by E. on August 31, 2009

Yumi's dad is half Japanese and half Jewish; her mom is Cuban. She is like no one she has ever met. But she fits in fine at school with her musician friends in the orchestra, which is all well and good, until the school announces that there is no longer a budget for the orchestra and it will be disb......more