FITTING-IN

1. (Mobile library) Fitting in Fitting in Anilu Bernardo ePub | *DOC | audiobook | ebooks | Download PDF #4313572 in Books Pinata Books 2005-02-01Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 8.46 x .69 x 5.58l, .66 #File Name: 1558854371223 pages | File size: 35.Mb Anilu Bernardo : Fitting in before purchasing it in order to gage whether or not it would be worth my time, and all praised Fitting in: This short story collection by Anilu Bernardo, takes us from the soccer field to the seashore. Her spunky Cuban- American protagonists navigate the uncertain waters of adolescence in Miami, and their lot is all that much harder as

2. they juggle the traditional burdens of middle school and high school coupled with the stresses of living those burdens in a foreign culture. Bernardo crafts a panorama of intelligent and spirited young girls struggling to find a place for themselves. Like when Sari wants to talk about boys and school with her friends instead of babysitting for Grandma, who always asks her to translate the most embarrassing things.... or when Clari stews in her room after she's grounded because the snippy old woman next door complained about Clari bending her stupid fence ... or when Mari turns in a homemade diorama in a context where her work must compete with all the store-bought iridescent paper and underwater photography that parents with money can buy... Bernardo shows that it's tough enough to be caught between the two worlds of childhood and womanhood, but when a Cuban girl must cross the bridge between two cultures to fit into a foreign environment, she faces a league of other headaches as well. The young girls in this collection don't let the cultural challenges define them. Instead, with a little resourcefulness and strong spirit, they manage to, in the words of one character, break out of themselves and the limits that culture puts on them. From Publishers WeeklyThis bland quintet of predictable stories varies so little in its themes and characters that it offers readers little incentive to hold out after two or three servings. Each story features a similar protagonist: a preteen/teenage Cuban American girl in Florida preoccupied with "fitting in" with non-Latino neighbors and classmates. Even their names?Sari, Clari, Mari, Chari and Tere?seem interchangeable. Sari worries what her new friends will think of her grandmother, who speaks no English; Chari risks her status with the popular (Anglo) girls to befriend a new student from Haiti; Tere is teased at school because she can't pronounce the "th" sound in English words. However real these situations may be, Bernardo's (Jumping Off to Freedom) explorations of them are superficial and uninspired. Characterizations are flat and the conclusions to the stories are obvious. Ages 11-up. Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.From School Library JournalGrade 6-9-The five short stories in this collection concern the trials and tribulations of young adult life as seen through the eyes of Cuban-American girls. Each selection focuses on the school and home life of a female character who is trying to blend into the community while still respecting her ancestry. The best story is "Grandma Was Never Young," in which Sari agonizes over the embarrassment her grandmother causes her before the two eventually come to an understanding. The other stories vary in quality. All are interesting; however, "American Girls," in which new immigrant Tere is harassed by her peers and ends up making friends with her chief tormentor, strains credibility. Characterization in the other selections is much more solid, as is plot development. Each of the main characters wants desperately to fit in, as the volume's title implies. However, none of them is willing to compromise her ideals in order to blend into American culture. If your library needs multicultural fiction, this is a good choice.Melissa Hudak, North Suburban District Library, Roscoe, ILCopyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.From BooklistGr. 6^-8. Five stories feature an adolescent girl of Cuban heritage in Florida who's striving to "fit in" to American culture. Herself a Cuban immigrant, Bernardo is obviously following the standard injunction to "write about what you know." And although the writing style and stories are sometimes didactically contrived and the characters difficult to differentiate (an unfortunate effect heightened by the characters' similar, rhyming names: Sari, Clari, Mari, Chari, and Tere), the stories do speak with a lively and authentic accent about the angst of bicultural, female adolescence. Purchase where materials featuring Hispanic characters are in high demand, and hope that Bernardo will continue to polish and pursue her writing and someday join Gary Soto in the currently small ranks of children's authors writing fun and contemporary fiction from a Hispanic perspective. Annie Ayres