Welcome to Litsy!

What a gorgeous book but so heartbreaking too, particularly as it is based on real testimonies.

Francisco‘s father is arrested on false corruption charges and is imprisoned. In #bolivia families often stay in the prisons too so 17 year old Francisco and his young sister live there with their father.

Thank you so much for sending this to me Barbara - I really appreciate you thinking of me!

#readingtheamericas23

Thank you so much for sending me this book @BarbaraBB 😘 I hope I like it as much as you did!

And all of the little extras are wonderful too. The tisane smells delicious, and then I opened the book to find more surprises inside - the little owl bookmark and the book plate!

Thanks once again! ❤️❤️❤️

Auw, such a heartbreaking novel. A boy of 17 has to take care of his little sister when his father is wrongly incarcerated in Cochabamba prison, #Bolivia. The kids can live with him in jail but it‘s not safe of course for a little girl.
The book is sad but there are sparks of light all through the story, little bits of uninterrupted sky. The right book at the right time. I loved it.

#ReadingTheAmericas2023 🇧🇴 #Booked2023 #QuietYA

This was an interesting one to be reading opposite Spare. While Harry feels he‘s in an gilded cage, Francisco lives in a real one. Based on a true story, his father was wrongly arrested and he and his 8-year-old sister live in a men‘s prison. In #Bolivia, if children have nowhere else to go, they can live in prison with their parents. At 17, Francisco struggles to understand why while trying to finish high school and care for his sister.

HEARTBREAKING 💔 This book is beyond sad because it‘s based on true accounts. #Bolivia 1999, Francisco 17 & his sister Pilar, 12 are forced to live inside a men‘s prison when their dad is falsely incarcerated & can‘t afford to pay his way out. Their daily life & struggles are harrowing. #ReadingAmericas #TriplePlay #Booked2023 #MountainRegion #FalselyImprisoned #52BookClub #AboutSiblings #SurvivalStory

Another heavy book to read with my son. We enjoyed it, despite his groaning and eye-rolling at the romantic bits, but it really is brutal, kids in Bolivia living in prison with their incarcerated parents. It's like the US Drug War my spouse and I demonstrated against on steroids (pardon the expression). I feel a sense of despair when I try to imagine a way through the lasting effects of colonialism around the world. (Build Your Library, Level 7)

Loved this book! It‘s a 5 star for me

Imagine being near the end of high school and living in prison with your dad and little sister because your dad has been falsely accused of selling drugs, your family is too poor to hire a lawyer and your mom deserts your family when all this happens. This is Franciso's life in Bolivia in 1999 and situations such as this actually occurred. This is an amazing book based on true events!

I thought immediately of Audacity for #harddaysnight but then I read about Crowders other book- and it also sounds appropriate....
#anglophileapril

I love how Crowder shows you what it‘s like to walk in someone else‘s shoes, in this book as well as Audacity. This isn‘t a feel-good book, but it‘s an important fictionalization of a real issue. It hurts the heart what this kid has to go through, and gives you some world and life perspective. It‘s pretty brilliant - recommended. Cookie is optional but cannot hurt.

This was my favorite read for the month of July. This is a beautiful historical YA that has a sibling story at its heart and is all about community and hope. It's also about the devastating terrors of US drug policy in South America.

July Book Stats:
New-to-Me Reads: 8
Rereads: 3
DNFs: 4

This is what our reviewer had to say about #AnUninterruptedViewoftheSky by Melanie Crowder "AN UNINTERRUPTED VIEW OF THE SKY creates a whirlwind of emotions....Despite this, I was not disheartened while reading, all because of [Crowder's] realistic, yet strong and fierce characters."

There are so many problems and so much corruption around the world. This book showed me a story I had not heard of in Bolivia. It was well written, with bits of poetry thrown in, and made me think about something new to me.

These are my two most anticipated releases of June. #junetbr #junebookbugs