This book feels like a collection of candid snapshots taken by our narrator and main protagonist, Esperanza. She's a young girl from a Latina family growing up in Chicago, who doesn't know where she belongs. Her story is that of so many first-generation immigrants and she faces the same hardships, some she sets light on, others she's too young to really notice. This novel told in bite-size pieces is quite touching but tumbles into dark territory toward the end (see most of the content warnings). 
Rep: Mexican-American family.