The Unexpected Lives of Ordinary Girls

A child of immigrants feels caught between two worlds and two selves in this “nuanced and inspiring” (Kirkus Reviews) middle grade historical novel about self-determination, community, and what it means to belong—perfect for fans of Esperanza Rising and Katherine Marsh’s The Lost Year.

When your family comes from Eastern Europe, you get used to being called a Bohunk—someone who’s ignorant, lazy, and still has Old World farm dirt in their ears. Someone from a place that people don’t care enough about to learn its real name.

Stanislava feels stuck in her deeply traditional Slovene community in Colorado in 1910. But when she finds a library book about an immigrant girl’s college adventure, she discovers a dazzling world of opportunity. She’s desperate to be like the book’s heroine, Katinka, who starts life anew as Katie and is seemingly living the American dream. So, like Katie, Stanislava adopts an “American” name: Sylvia.

Sylvia fantasizes about escaping her claustrophobic life and going off to college—until her dreams are shattered when her older sister, Stina, elopes with a man their family disapproves of. Now Sylvia finds herself at a crossroads: quit school to fill Stina’s role as the family’s caretaker or run away from home. Stanislava would do the former. But Sylvia is determined to be free…