Jan Raspen's Reviews > Finally Seen

I listened to this book, and I enjoyed it for the most part. I think the author perfectly captures the feelings of an immigrant student with limited English speaking abilities. I felt like some of the other characters, though, relied on stereotypes and really thin character arcs. One that stood out to me was Pete, the owner of the garden where Lina's dad worked. Coupled with the narrator's super-harsh voicing for him, this character was just downright mean. I couldn't wrap my head around this man who was so passionate about saving the world being such a bad guy. And I get it, books need bad guys...but Pete was over the top. The other character, who was an important one in the book, is Lina's little sister Minnie. If Lina is a fifth grader, that would make Minnie a first grader, and she just did not act like a 6-year old. She had a following on TikTok, experienced "mean girls" in her class, and did a whole lot of business stuff with the bath bomb project.
Near the end of the book, when a book being read aloud in Lina's class temporarily gets banned, things got very heavy handed. I know the author is passionate about the subjects of immigrant kids and the freedom to read, but the passion came through as very preachy to me.