Don T Ask Me Where I Am From By Jennifer De Leon

Don’t Ask Me Where I’m From by Jennifer De Leon is a teenage drama that deals with the challenges of overcoming adversity and racism. Liliana Cruz is a sophomore in high school who lives with her newly-single mom (because her dad left without explanation) and brothers in a small town in Boston. She was born and raised in Boston but her parents are from Mexico meaning they are undocumented. Liliana has a best friend Jade who she has known practically since she was born. Early on in the story Liliana finds out that she got accepted into a prestigious academic program called METCO. This program is specifically offered to non-white students and is highly competitive. At first Liliana is skeptical about the program and really has no desire to go,

While navigating the stress of school, Liliana's home life is even more hectic. Towards the middle of the story she finds out that her dad was actually deported back to Guatemala. Everything seems so confusing for Liliana because she has no idea what is to come for the future. Throughout the rest of the story we see Liliana adjusting to her new life and building life-long relationships with her new friends and teachers. The school holds an assembly where the METCO kids talk about the importance of respecting kids of color and ethnicity which quickly gets out of hand. Even though it was so out of control, it made everyone come to their senses and it motivated them to start giving people the respect that they deserve and more and made Liliana a school-wide hero for resolving the discrimination dispute. At the end of the story something exciting and unexpected happens. Liliana's dad comes home and everything seems right because not only is her family back together again, but, Liliana made a difference that won’t be forgotten in years to

Liliana has always been different in the sense that she is one of few people at her school in the METCO program. At her old school, she was more similar to everyone else considering there was a mix of races throughout the school. She didn't have many friends at her old school but someone being different has gotten her a boyfriend, a new (white) best friend, and friendly interactions at her new school. The theme is shown emerging when Liliana first arrives at West berg High and talks to a girl named Missy. She says, “So yeah, Missy was the only white girl I’d ever spoken to for more than five seconds. Some people might find that surprising, but it was true” (De Leon 40). This quote relates to the theme because it shows how sheltered Liliana's culture was with her neighborhood full of kids just like her. So interacting with a white kid was something out of the ordinary for Liliana since she really didn’t have the opportunity before she switched schools. The only person she really interacted with besides family before the transition was Jade. Towards the end of the story we get to see the theme develop even more. Liliana has been able to figure out how she really feels about being diverse. This has led her to do things that she never would have thought she would be doing or able to do as a minority. The theme is shown at the end of