Lucky Broken Girl

After a car accident, Ruthie spends months in a full-body cast. Though she is surrounded by the love of her Cuban-Jewish immigrant family and a few colorful neighborhood personalities, it's a long and difficult time as she recovers. And, after being in the cast for so long, will she be able to

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gather up the courage to stand again?

This is a soft, lovely story, loosely based on the author's own experiences as a child. I loved descriptions of Ruthie, her family, and the vibrant and diverse group of friends in 1960s New York City who help make her long convalescence easier to bear. One thing to note: for some reason, my first impression from descriptions and whatnot was that this was a teen book, but it is not. Both content and writing style are firmly middle grade. Recommended for readers who enjoy slice-of-life stories with excellent characters and a recent-historical setting.

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A multicultural look at a New York neighborhood in the 1960s narrated by 10 year old Ruthie, a Jewish Cuban immigrant confined to her bed following a devastating accident.

Narrated by the author. Ruthie and her family and relatives are Cuban refugees living in New York City. Although they all miss their country, they make do with the new lives they have knowing they have greater freedoms. There is warmth, love, music and plenty of Cuban food cooked by Mami. Ruthie is

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in the "dumb kids" class because of her English but she knows she is smart. A tragic car accident upends Ruthie's life: because of her injuries, she is bedridden in a body cast for almost a year. Mami's days are taken over by Ruthie's care. Ruthie spends her months in bed getting tutoring, meeting a new neighbor, painting, reading and learning how to type. Her fears and the comfort of being confined to her room make her recovery a challenge. Empathetic readers will count their blessings while also being inspired by Ruthie's long journey. This may have worked better in print for me; the author reads her work in a swooping sing-song voice that at times is at odds with the narrative.

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Excellent , fictional, based on the author's experiences as a child. The story is told beautifully, although a tough experience for the Ruthie (the main character), the book is so hopeful and filled with wonderful characters, so real. Fantastic !

Imagine moving to another country and trying to adjust. Now, throw in a major injury and having to be placed in a body cast. The struggles sound unreal, but that is what Ruthie goes through in this book. I rate this book 5 stars because it outlines the difficulties that comes along with learning a

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new culture and being thrown a curve-ball just when she thought she had the hang of it. I think this book is great for middle grade because it could show them how grateful they should be.

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I have to admit, I didn't love this book -- it's just so painfully earnest that it dragged, and it's really quite depressing -- from the casual family verbal abuse, to the sudden tragedies, to the sexist messages and mother's powerlessness and anger, and that's before you start to try and

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comprehend a child being confined to her bed for a year to try and recover from a broken leg.

On the other hand, if you are looking for a first person, based on a true story, immigrant account of growing up Cuban and Jewish in New York City in the 1950s, this is excellent. And honestly, I think if I'd been reading it as a YA book, or even as an adult memoir, I would have loved it. I have a really hard time with it as a children's book -- there's just too much going on, and Ruthie's voice is sometimes confusing -- she has such compassion for where her parents are at (isolated, frustrated, confined) even when their behavior is difficult or abusive. I love her friends (Chicho, Ramu, even Danielle) and I love that she develops as an artist and a writer during her confinement. A lot of beauty here, and a lot of sorrow.

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