Isabel in Bloom

January 22, 2024
Understated verse and other poetic forms shape this reassuring 1999-set story of a persevering Filipina tween adapting to a new life. Twelve-year-old Isabel Ligaya lives with her jasmine-growing grand-parents in the rural Philippines. She was seven when her mother left for lucrative domestic work in America; now, after earning a nursing degree, Mama makes plans for Isabel to move to California. Her grandfather’s advice (“When things feel hard/ find the familiar./ The people/ places/ things/ that feel like/ home”) and her grandmother’s gift of a tiny glass bottle of soothing jasmine scent provide comfort. In San Francisco, she feels abandoned by her mother, who’s busy job-seeking and apartment-hunting, and when Isabel tries befriending classmate Melissa, who is also Filipina, Melissa’s friend Ashley swipes Isabel’s jasmine bottle and declares the contents “gross.” But soon Isabel discovers the school’s neglected garden, and tending to its ailing plants, as well as frequenting a welcoming Culinary Club and Asian American Senior Center, help her establish new friendships and a sense of purpose. Respicio (How to Win a Slime War) examines themes of racism, cultural heritage, and community building by focusing on positive occurrences in Isabel’s life, throughout offering solutions that model helpful next steps for readers in similar circumstances. Supporting characters are intersectionally diverse. Ages 8–12. Agent: Jennifer Laughran, Andrea Brown Literary.