Lucky Broken Girl by Ruth Behar

 

              Lucky Broken Girl by Ruth Behar is a Pura Belpre Award winning autobiographical novel with fictional elements that follows the author as a young girl during a time she was called Ruthie by her friends and family. The reader meets her in the 1960s, when had been living in New York City for a few years after her family moved from Havana, Cuba. She is excited because she is finally moving from the “dumb” class to the “smart” class because she finally has a good enough grasp on English. Things have been going well for Ruthie and her family. She has made new friends, her father just bought a new car, and they were enjoying the freedoms of the United States. This all changes when Ruthie and her family get into a very bad car accident. There are fatalities, but most of the family only suffer from cuts and bruises; that is, except for Ruthie, who has a bad broken leg, which requires her to be kept in a nearly full-body cast for a whole year so the leg can heal properly and not cause complications for her later on. During the year Ruthie is confined to her bed, she learns many important lessons and hears stories from bedside visitors. She also learns that life is a precious thing that needs to be cherished and never taken advantage of.

              I found this book while looking at the official Pura Belpre Award novel list. Before perusing this list, I had never heard of it before, but after seeing the pretty cover and reading the synopsis for it, I decided that it would be a good choice for reading. I’m so glad I picked it up and gave it a chance because it was amazing. Ruth Behar’s true story is heartbreaking and beautiful, and it made me feel like I was there sharing her hardships.

              One of my favorite things about this book was the style and language. Behar is a talented writer who tells stories in a way that is poetic, so I wasn’t surprised to find out later, after some research, that she is mainly a poet. She has published a few collections of her original poetry and she has also released a few books about her experiences in leaving Cuba. This is her first book written for children, which I was a surprised to learn. I thought the way she chose to write this book was so delicate and beautiful. She told it from little Ruthie’s point of view, which made me feel like I was having a conversation with the young girl herself. Behar also uses great examples of figurative language in ways that helped create pictures in my mind of what was happening. Sometimes I even felt I was in the story thanks to her descriptions.

              This story included some of my favorite characters in children’s literature. Ruthie herself was so sweet and thoughtful, but I also loved everyone who came to visit her while she was in her body cast. Her teacher Joy teaches her to look at life with an open mind, her neighbor Chicho teaches her to unlock her creative side and helps her believe she can achieve anything she sets her mind to, and her nurse Amara is firm but filled with love as she helps her learn to walk after she is released from her cast. Every character in this book makes a huge impact in Ruthie’s life and I loved how Behar described the characteristics and actions of each one. It almost felt like I knew them personally.

              Ruthie also realizes many unexpected insights throughout the plot. It was amazing to see her grow from a bitter young girl when she was put in the cast and confined to bed for a whole year to someone who valued life and everything it had to offer when she was released by her doctor. She takes every lesson she learned from her beside visitors to heart and vows to live a life that is worth living. One of my favorite quotes happens at the end of the story, when Ruthie says, “is this what it feels like to receive a blessing? It must be. For I was once a broken girl. And I’m not broken anymore. I am lucky, after all. One day I may even go on the journeys I dreamed of. People will say, ‘Look at her, she spent a year in bed, and now she travels far and wide.’ But wherever I go, I know I will feel most at home with the wounded of the world, who hold their heads up high no matter how broken they may seem.”

              I think this book is great for any child in the upper elementary grades. Ruthie’s point of view is easy to follow and sounds very child-like, so I think kids will really resonate with what she has to say. The poetic language Behar uses makes reading very easy and almost dream-like. This would also be a great book to use for teaching figurative language. I give this book five out of five stars.

Behar, R. (2018, April 10). Lucky Broken Girl. Nancy Paulsen Books.