Oshiro, Mark. You Only Live Once David Bravo. 2023. 384p. HarperCollins, ($16.99) Recommended Grade Levels 4-7.
Rating: 5 stars!
Identities: adoptee, queer, Mexican heritage
For David, the long-anticipated start to middle school begins differently than he hoped. When a school project about his heritage goes wrong he is faced with a handful of questions about his adoption from his classmates. To make an awful day worse, David has joined cross-country to be with his friend and a mishap causes his friend an injury. Stuck in a time loop, David relives the day with a sidekick Xoloitzcuintli, named Fea. Through each iteration, David reflects on his adoption, friendship, and cross-country to examine his identities. He learns to fumble through trying new things out to better understand and advocate for himself. The author’s choice to trap David in a time loop resonates with the adoptee experience as David explores new ways of thinking about his identities. This is a great middle grade read in conversation with Shannon Gibney’s Young Adult book, The Girl I Am, Was, and Never Will Be. Mark Oshiro is a talented middle grade author who can parcel out identity related themes with developmentally appropriate language that speaks to the middle grade reader.
Perspectives: Written by an own voices, queer, adoptee author and centering a middle grade adoptee.
Practice: Centered around David’s adoption narrative and how to take ownership over the telling of his story, this book is better for a reader who is engaged in their adoption story and curious to hear stories across the adoption experience. Any adult raising a school aged adoptee should read this book in preparation to support their child through the inevitable school projects that will spark conversations about adoption. Similarly, this may serve clinicians working with adoptees who are actively engaged in conversation around adoption. This is also a great book to workshop the traditional school assignments or social commentary adoption that may pop up in a middle grade child’s life before or when it does happen.
The Adoptee Bookshelf 