EVERYTHING WITHIN AND IN BETWEEN

A Mexican American girl fights to reclaim her culture.

Maria is a high school junior in Santa Barbara, California, torn between her anger toward her maternal grandmother, who denies her any cultural connections to her Mexican ancestry, and her admiration for this same woman who raised her and works tirelessly keeping house for a wealthy family in order to give Ri access to more opportunities. Ri’s grandmother wants her to assimilate, even discouraging her from learning Spanish, exchanging their Catholic church for a Whiter version of Christianity, and urging her to hang out with the kids she deems good influences like her White friend, Brittany. Ri, whose biological father was a White American she’s never met, usually obeys her grandmother’s wishes—until the day she discovers a letter in Spanish from her estranged mother, written two years earlier, that upends everything. Ashamed that she had to use an online translation tool to understand the letter, Ri switches from French to Spanish class to connect with her heritage. There, she discovers that her Latinx classmates are not all fluent and she is not the only outsider, as she had believed, and that these kids whom her friends, guidance counselor, and grandmother had warned her against also hold complex relationships with their cultural identities. Barthelmess’ story thoughtfully explores intergenerational cultural dynamics and racial microaggressions as it follows Ri on her journey of self-discovery.

An honest and engaging narrative.