If I Could Fly

Cofer, Judith Ortiz. If I Could Fly. Virginia: RR Donnelley & Sons Company, 2011. 


This novel follows Doris, a 15 year old girl growing up in the barrio dealing with her mother's abandonment of her and her father. Her parents are salsa performers who often leave Doris on her own while they perform, but Doris finds herself feeling even more alone when her mother gets sick and leaves their family with her father's coworker. Doris' father gets a girlfriend and Doris feels even more alone then she did before. She spends time taking care of the pigeons that live on the roof with an old neighbor and turns to her friends Arturo and Yolanda for support, but finds that both of them have serious problems of their own to deal with. After becoming a possible suspect in a shooting, Doris visits her mother and discovers new meanings of the word "family."
I think this book is teachable, but would be better as an independent reading book. The main character is female and the story would definitely appeal to girls more than boys- boys would probably not be interested in it at all. There are some sexual and violent themes, but eight graders and may seventh would be able to handle it. Also, Doris' friend Arturo is a character in An Island Like You, a different novel by Cofer so it might be interesting to incorporate both books in class