Book Review: Ana's Story

            I was a little apprehensive to read Ana’s Story being that it’s written by the conservative president’s daughter, and I being a pretty firm liberal. I kinda wondered if Jenna would have the same problem stringing together words that her father seems to.

            However, I’m always up for new things, and the hype around the book drew me in. In the end, I was glad I decided to set my political party aside and read Ana’s Story.

            The book tells the story of a young girl named Ana, who has a rough life to say the least. Some days I think my life is rough, but never again will I have this misguided thought. Compared to Ana, I seem to have yet lived.

            Just about everything and anything that can go wrong in a person’s life seems to plague Ana. She is orphaned early on as a result of her parents dieing of aids, an illness that has also stricken Ana.

            After the death of her father, and moving in with her abuela, Ana is sexually assaulted by her abuela’s boyfriend and beaten by her abuela.

            Looking for greener grass Ana moves in with yet another family member only to be thrown into another cycle of abuse.

            Searching for yet another place of solace Ana inhabits an orphanage and then a home for HIV/AIDS sufferers.

            By the end of the book Ana’s story had me. It astounded me at how she could be so optimistic with all that she had been through.

Some days I’m so pessimistic and emo it’s amazing I even get up in the morning, and my biggest problem is stress with school and such. However, never again will I look at my life as such a burden. I want to try to be more optimistic, like Ana.

The one thing I didn’t like about the book was that it ended. I wanted to continue to read Ana’s story; even though there’s no more to tell since the book followed her up to her life currently.

The book seemed to end abruptly. I wondered what the point of the book was if it had no ending.

But the point, as Jenna has said in many tv interviews, was to inspire and educate. It was to inspire kids to help kids like Ana who were facing unbearable odds. It was to educate kids on the kind of life children like Ana were living.

One of my favorite parts of the book was in the back of the book Jenna provided readers with resources where they can direct their new found motivation and education.

This book worm says: this is THE must read of the year, five out of five stars. Invest the $4.00 in the book and already you’ll be making a difference, a portion of the proceeds from the book will go to the U.S. Fund for UNICEF.

Quick idea, since this is a Halloween post. Visit http://www.unicefusa.org/trickortreat to easily make a difference this Halloween.