Islands apart Becoming Dominican American

Jasminne Méndez

Book - 2022

Jasminne Mendez didn't speak English when she started kindergarten, and her young, white teacher thought the girl was deaf because in Louisiana, you were either black or white. She had no idea that a black girl could be a Spanish speaker. In this memoir for teens about growing up Afro Latina in the Deep South, Jasminne writes about feeling torn between her Dominican, Spanish-speaking culture at home and the American, English-speaking one around her. She desperately wanted to fit in, to be seen as American, and she realized early on that language mattered. Learning to read and write English well was the road to acceptance. Mendez shares typical childhood experiences such as having an imaginary friend, boys and puberty, but she also expo...ses the anti-black racism within her own family and the conflict created by her family's conservative traditions. She was not allowed to do things other girls could, like date boys, shave her legs or wear heels. "I wanted us to find some common ground," she writes about her parents, "but it seemed like we were from two different worlds, and our islands kept drifting farther and farther apart." Despite her father's old-style approach to raising girls, he valued education and insisted his daughters do well in school and maintain their native language. He took his children to hear Maya Angelou speak, and hearing the poet read was a defining moment for the black Dominican girl who struggled to fit in. "I decided that if Maya Angelou could be the author of her own story and rewrite her destiny to become a phenomenal woman, then somehow, so could I." Teens--and adults too--will appreciate reading about Mendez's experiences coming of age in the United States as both black and Latina -- Page [4] of cover.

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2nd Floor New Shelf BIOGRAPHY/Mendez, Jasminne (NEW SHELF) Due Jan 27, 2024
  • At Daybreak
  • The Chicken Pox
  • English as a Second Language
  • She Was Linda
  • Valentine's Day
  • A Bucket of Dirty Water
  • A Polaroid Picture
  • Respect Your Elders
  • The Talk
  • Phenomenal Woman
Review by School Library Journal Review

Gr 6 Up--In this coming-of-age memoir for teens, Mendez shares her struggle to reconcile her different cultures in a world that isn't built to understand or accept their intersection. Growing up as an Afro-Latina in Louisiana, Mendez never quite fit into any of the usual boxes. Where do you check off "Black girl who speaks Spanish"? Across 10 thoughtful essays, the memoirist presents a childhood of constant culture clash. Her conservative Dominican family frowned upon dating, heels, and shaving, keeping her worlds apart from her white peers. Even though the girl enjoyed speaking English more, at home, she had to speak Spanish. She even created a white imaginary friend, Linda, so that she could feel more accepted by the dominant culture. The introductory chapter reads as an extended metaphor, but most of the work is matter of fact. The usual coming-of-age topics are covered, such as puberty and crushes, in addition to her first exposure to death and grief. Still, each essay is filled with humor and candor. In the chapter about the imaginary friend, "She Was Linda," Mendez talks about how all of her subsequent white girl friends failed to live up to Linda's standards, because they often used her to cheat on tests or for rides, but never quite accepted her. "Respect Your Elders" focuses on the ongoing battle she has with the anti-Blackness of the Dominican community and how painful that struggle can be when it's often your loved ones who have internalized that hate. The influences on narrative include Maya Angelou, to whom the final essay centers around, and even Esmeralda Santiago's When I Was a Puerto Rican. Teens can read the essays piecemeal or the memoir as a whole. Each entry is a gem and offers insight into the struggles and triumphs of a bicultural identity. VERDICT Pair this with Elizabeth Acevedo's The Poet X or Sonia Manzano's Becoming Maria. An excellent choice for memoir collections.--Shelley M. Diaz

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Review by Kirkus Book Review

A poignant memoir from an Afro-Latina perspective. Dominican American Mendez tells her story in this compelling memoir composed of vignettes including a poetic take on her own birth, her first experiences with English, witnessing anti-Blackness within her family, and having an imaginary White friend. The book takes readers to places such as Germany and Tennessee as the Army transferred her father between bases and through the many complexities of being Afro-Latina. At times poignant and at others heartbreaking, this volume is sure to empower those who share the pressures of forced assimilation. Although the pacing varies between slow and abrupt, the narrative choices feel intentional--every word in the 10 personal essays seems deliberately chosen, varying in tone and gravity but always striving for the same underlying tone of intimacy. Two sections in particular stand out: Mendez's experience with a teacher in Louisiana who assumed she was deaf because she didn't respond to English (the teacher couldn't imagine that a Black child did not know English) and the struggle people of color face when debating how to approach bigotry expressed by elders you are taught never to speak back to. The book ends by paying homage to Maya Angelou, a source of inspiration to Mendez, and encourages others to become phenomenal women. A strong collection of intimate essays. (Memoir. 13-18) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.