My Family Divided: One Girl’s Journey of Home, Loss, and Hope by Diane Guerrero with Erica Moroz

I’m grateful Diane Guerrero tells her family’s experience with immigration and deportation in My Family Divided: One Girl’s Journey of Home, Loss, and Hope. I think it will lead to much-needed and important conversations.

Diane dropped by to chat with me about Paola Escobar, Erica Moroz, school libraries, and her role as an Ambassador for Citizenship and Naturalization I wrote the words in purple, and she wrote the words in black. Thank you, Diane!

Paola Escobar’s cover illustration for My Family Divided: One Girl’s Journey of Home, Loss, and Hope makes me so happy. It was really important to me that the visual representation on the cover was faithful to my experience, so that when readers pick it up they will see someone who looks like them, and hopefully identify with that.

I hope My Family Divided will be a resource for children (and adults) to talk about this issue in a productive way, while also giving them actionable tools that can help them in the real world. 

Erica Moroz and I worked hard to capture the feelings that I experienced throughout my journey, so that this book would be as authentic as possible and ring true for my readers.

On July 17, 2018, I am going to have a launch event in New York City at the Strand Book Store, to celebrate this story with readers in person!

School libraries are an essential resource for children, especially for young readers who feel marginalized or who live in fear of issues like deportation. We need our school libraries as a resource to help those who need it the most.

Mr. Schu, you should have asked me about my activism on this subject! The Obama administration named me as an Ambassador for Citizenship and Naturalization, and I have worked tirelessly to spread awareness on a topic that affects many immigrant families in Washington. 

Look for My Family Divided: One Girl's Journey of Home, Loss, and Hope on July 17, 2018.