This story takes place in 1960s when a young Cuban-Jewish
immigrant girl (Ruth) and her family move to New York. When Ruth first starts
school she is put in the “dumb” class because her English isn’t good. She and
her friend work hard to get out it because they know they are not dumb. When
they finally get moved out and Ruth is has confidence in speaking English and
being the best at hopscotch, her life changes. Ruth and her family get into a
car accident causing her to be in a body cast for year! She can no longer go
outside and play with the neighborhood kids; she is confined to her bed. Her
world shrinks to her bedroom and the main people she speaks to is her mother
and her teacher. She goes through embarrassment of using a bed pan, makes new
friends and learns to find her strength again. In the beginning Ruth is very
angry at the teenagers who cause the accident but towards the end she finds
forgiveness and she understands how fragile and valuable life can be.
I found Ruth to be a bit annoying especially when she was
learning how to walk again. I also wanted to speak some sense into her mother
at times when she would cry about missing Cuba and wanting to go back. I did enjoy
how Ruth’s outlook on life changed and she became much more mature because of
the accident.
Behar, R. (2017). Lucky broken girl. New York: Delacorte
Special Note: To find out more information about the author you can go to the following link: Ruth Behar
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