LSSL 5385: Book 3

September 25, 2019

Lucky Broken Girl

By Ruth Behar

Behar, R. (2017). Lucky Broken Girl. NY: Penguin.

Ruthie is a young Cuban-Jewish girl living with her family in New York. She lives with her mother, father, and little brother Izzie. Many of Ruthie’s extended family resides in her apartment building too, her mother’s parents, an aunt, uncle, and their twins. Since English is not her first language, Ruthie is in what she calls the dumb class with her Indian best friend and neighbor Ramu. Ruthie and Ramu believe they are ready for the smart class, and she informs their teacher. The teacher agrees to test them and gives each of them a word to spell. Ruthie spells hers correctly but Ramu is unable to spell his correctly. Ruthie knows in her heart that Ramu is ready for the smart class, and asks the teacher to give him a second chance. Ramu spell his second word correctly, and they both are switched to the smart class the following Monday. They are excited to be placed in the smart class, and glad that they will still be together.

When Ruthie and Izzie arrive home from school they immediately change their clothes to go outside to play. They must always be back before Papi comes home though to change and be ready to greet him when he arrives. Papi works two jobs to be able to provide for his family. When he comes home that night he has prizes for his children, go-go boots for Ruthie and a toy car of Izzie. Ruthie has wanted go-go boots ever since she saw a commercial with a catchy song on the TV, but her Mami tells her Papi they can’t afford frivolous gifts right now. Papi tells her Mami that he makes the money and he will decide how it gets spent. A few days later, Papi purchases his dream car, a blue Oldsmobile, and they plan a trip to visit friends in Staten Island that weekend. They have a nice visit and on their way home Ruthie rest her head on her Baba’s leg and falls asleep. Ruthie wakes up startled, unsure where she is and where everyone else is. Ruthie and her family were in a car accident, and she’s taken to the hospital with a broken leg. Since Ruthie is still growing the doctor decides to put her in a full body cast.

Ruthie spends almost an entire year bed ridden and hardly able to do anything herself. She has to rely on her mother to tend to her needs, and thankfully the school provided her with a tutor. Ruthie often feels frustrated and defeated but is able to escape her room through books. She can often feel her mother’s impatience and frustration with being confined to the apartment all day, and tries to ease her burdens. On top of being resigned to her bed, she loses her best friend Ramu when his family returns to India after his brother’s tragic death. Her new Mexican neighbor, Chicho, brings life back into her room with his stories and art. He encourages to start drawing and painting, and Ruthie has a new outlet to escape to. Ruthie has a slow recovery but she hears many stories and even begins to type a few of them. From her bed, she realizes the might want to be an artist or a writer and that she has big aspirations. Throughout her healing she discovers she is stronger than she believed, and even dislodges the stone in her heart to find forgiveness for the young boys who died in the accident.

Ruth Behar writes an account of her experience being bed ridden as a young child with fictional aspects. She wrote Lucky Broken Girl as a way to completely heal herself many years later. I enjoyed reading about several different cultures and how all easily blended together. This book does a great job of portraying the melting pot that is the America we know and love dearly. I was able to relate to the way that Ruthie’s family always gathered together and was there for each other in the good times and bad. I’m very close with my mom’s side of the family, and any weekend that we’re home we find ourselves in each other’s company. Lucky Broken Girl is a great book for ESL students, and teaches students the power of friendship and perseverance.

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