THE WEIGHT OF EVERYTHING

After her mother’s death and father’s breakdown, Sarah must balance household responsibilities and taking care of her little brother with attending a new school.

Seventeen-year-old San Antonio teen Sarah Mosley’s life in the six months since her mother died has been full of changes. A visual artist, she had to give up her spot at an Austin boarding school for the fine arts to move home and act as the primary caregiver for her precocious 8-year-old brother, Steven. Since her grief-stricken, hard-drinking White father lost his job as a university professor, Sarah has spent time selling custom drawings on Etsy to earn extra money for the family budget. At her new high school, Sarah decides to take Spanish to connect with her Mexican and Guatemalan maternal heritage, and she meets handsome and attentive David Garza, who’s immediately drawn to her. Despite their mutual attraction, Sarah feels too overwhelmed with family responsibilities to seriously consider romance. A highlight of the story is Sarah’s decision to base an art project on her family’s personal connection to her mother’s favorite Diego Rivera painting. The narrative lovingly conveys the pivotal role older siblings can play after a parent’s death and weaves in Sarah’s new interest in Guatemalan history and social activism in an organic manner.

A thoughtful and substantive story about loss, cultural discovery, and first love.