# When We Make It - Hardcover

by **Elisabet Velasquez** (Author)

**"The energy. The clarity. The beauty. Elisabet Velasquez brings it all. . . . Her voice is FIRE!"--_NYT_ bestselling and award-winning author Jacqueline Woodson**

An unforgettable, torrential, and hopeful debut young adult novel-in-verse that redefines what it means to "make it," for readers of Nicholasa Mohr and Elizabeth Acevedo.

Sarai is a first-generation Puerto Rican question asker who can see with clarity the truth, pain, and beauty of the world both inside and outside her Bushwick apartment. Together with her older sister, Estrella, she navigates the strain of family traumas and the systemic pressures of toxic masculinity and housing insecurity in a rapidly gentrifying Brooklyn. Sarai questions the society around her, her Boricua identity, and the life she lives with determination and an open heart, learning to celebrate herself in a way that she has long been denied.

_When We Make It_ is a love letter to anyone who was taught to believe that they would not make it. To those who _feel_ their emotions before they can name them. To those who still may not have all the language but they have their story. Velasquez' debut novel is sure to leave an indelible mark on all who read it.

### Author Biography

Elisabet Velasquez is a Boricua writer born in Bushwick, Brooklyn. Her work is featured in _Muzzle Magazine, Winter Tangerine, Centro Voces, Latina Magazine, Longreads, We Are Mitú, Tidal,_ and Martín Espada's anthology _What Saves Us: Poems of Empathy and Outrage in the Age of Trump. When We Make It_ is her debut novel. Elisabet lives in Jersey City, New Jersey.

**Number of Pages:** 384

**Dimensions:** 1.34 x 8.35 x 5.75 IN

**Publication Date:** September 21, 2021

**Accelerated Reader:**

**Quiz Name:** When We Make It

**Interest Level:** Upper Grades, 9-12

**Reading Level:** 4.4

**Point Value:** 5

## Details

- **Price:** 19.99 USD
- **Vendor:** Books by splitShops
- **Type:** Books
- **Tags:** Books by splitShops, Shopify Collective

## Variants

| Variant | Price | Available |
|---------|-------|-----------|
| Default Title | 19.99 USD | In stock |

## Images

- When We Make It - Hardcover

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