Each Tiny Spark

Emilia Rosa Torres (not Emi Rose) is a sixth-grader who has ADHD. She is from Cuba and has a mix of Yoruba and Spanish ancestry. Emilia is quite a tomboy who loves tech and mechanical stuff. She lives in Merryville with her Abuela and occasionally mom and/or dad. The thing is her Mami is an app developer who has to go in business meeting out in San Francisco and her Papi is in deployment so he isn't often at home for months! Her mom is very caring, overprotective, and anxious and always helps her daughter with school work and organizations. Emilia likes hanging out with Guz and sometimes with Clarissa even tho they eventually don't stay as friends anymore... SpoilerTo be honest she is a total brat and even tho her dad died and stuff, her actions aren't that excused. I mean she just hates Latinos somehow!!! The story occurs when Emilia's mom goes to a business place while her dad just comes back from the military and looks different (I bet he is suffering from PTSD). Emilia doesn't understand him and misses his old self. She goes through tough stuff at school too, with the new tourism guide project she has and her kinda annoying Abuela who won't stop telling her to be a senorita and prepare for Quicheniera, which Emilia doesn't like at all... Emilia's ADHD-related stuff was so relatable and real... Her sensory issues, difficulty with hyperfocus, and lack of focus, her anger issues... very REAL!!! This book is a Middle-Grade novel and I really enjoyed it. We had quite some stuff in common excluding military father and ethnicity... I highly recommend this realistic fiction novel on the everyday lives of a struggling tween at home, school, and throughout who kinda gets in together by the end!