Aniana del Mar Jumps in -- Jasminne Mendez, Hardcover

"Beautiful in its honesty and vulnerability, this is a powerful story about dreams and bodily agency that sings from the heart."--Natalia Sylvester, award-winning author of Breathe and Count Back From Ten

A powerful and expertly told novel-in-verse by about a 12-year-old Dominican American swimmer who is diagnosed with Juvenile Arthritis by an award-winning poet.

Aniana del Mar belongs in the water like a dolphin belongs to the sea. But she and Papi keep her swim practices and meets hidden from Mami, who has never recovered from losing someone she loves to the water years ago. That is, until the day Ani's stiffness and swollen joints mean she can no longer get out of bed, and Ani is forced to reveal just how important swimming is to her. Mami forbids her from returning to the water but Ani and her doctor believe that swimming along with medication will help Ani manage her disease. What follows is the journey of a girl who must grieve who she once was in order to rise like the tide and become the young woman she is meant to be. Aniana Del Mar Jumps In is a poignant story about chronic illness and disability, the secrets between mothers and daughters, the harm we do to the ones we love the most--and all the triumphs, big and small, that keep us afloat.

Author: Jasminne Mendez
Publisher: Dial Books
Published: 03/14/2023
Pages: 384
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.05lbs
Size: 8.27h x 5.51w x 1.42d
ISBN: 9780593531815
Audience: Ages 9-12

Review Citation(s):
Kirkus Reviews 01/15/2023
Booklist 01/01/2023 pg. 71
Publishers Weekly 01/30/2023
Bulletin of Ctr for Child Bks 03/01/2023
School Library Journal 03/01/2023 pg. 86

About the Author
Jasminne Mendez is a best-selling Dominican-American poet, educator, translator, playwright and award winning author of several books for children and adults. She has had poetry and essays published in numerous journals and anthologies and she is the author of two multi-genre collections including Island of Dreams (Floricanto Press, 2013) which won an International Latino Book Award. Her debut poetry collection City Without Altar was a finalist for the Noemi Press poetry prize and was released in August 2022(Noemi Press) and her debut picture book Josefina's Habichuelas (Arte Publico Press, 2021) was the Writer's League of Texas Children's Book Discovery Prize Winner. She has translated the work of NYT Best Selling authors Amanda Gorman, Nikole Hannah-Jones, René Watson and Calribel Ortega. She is an MFA graduate of the creative writing program at the Rainier Writing Workshop at Pacific Lutheran University and a University of Houston alumni. She is the Program Director for the literary arts non-profit Tintero Projects and she lives and works in Houston, TX.