Cleaning Solutions

The utterly remarkable YA debut of acclaimed poet Roy Guzmán, giving powerful voice to their experience as a child new to America, who at age nine spends his days cleaning houses with his mother instead of being able to go to school and by age thirteen is learning to navigate the perilous road forward into a world of queerness, art, and acceptance.

At age 9, Roy emigrates from Honduras to Miami, sharing a bed with his mother and other women in a house with several other women. Because he doesn’t have a legal guardian who holds US citizenship, he spends his weekdays cleaning houses and other spaces alongside his mother, and weekends helping his stepfather at his factory job, making parts for dumpsters. He doesn't start school until fifth grade, and when he gets there, he is bullied horribly for being queer, an immigrant, and a non-English speaker. It is only when he switches to a Lutheran private school at the age of thirteen that he finally finds a space where he can express himself fully. As we see Roy grow, we see a vivid portrait of an immigrant child trying to reconcile a world filled with racism, poverty, homophobia, bullying, and machismo.