The Weight of Everything

by Marcia Argueta Mickelson

Overview

It’s been six months since Sarah’s mom died. Three months since her dad fell apart. Sarah has left her fine arts boarding school to take care of her dad and her little brother, and now she’s trying to hold everything together at home while adjusting to the local public high school.

With her dad’s drinking and spending getting out of control, Sarah struggles to make sure that the bills are paid, that her brother is fed and safe, that her dad’s grief won’t crush them all. She has no time for art, unless she’s cranking out a piece to sell online for some grocery money. And she definitely doesn’t have the time or the emotional energy to find out if her sweet, handsome classmate, David Garza, could be more than a friend.

But then a school project prompts Sarah to delve into her mom’s Mexican and Guatemalan roots. As she learns more about this side of her heritage, Sarah starts to understand her mom better—and starts to face her own grief. When she stumbles upon a long-buried piece of history that mattered deeply to her mom, Sarah realizes she can’t carry her pain silently anymore. She has to speak up, and she can’t do it alone.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781728475356
Publisher:	Lerner Publishing Group
Publication date:	05/02/2023
Pages:	240
Sales rank:	522,086
Product dimensions:	5.75(w) x 8.50(h) x (d)
Age Range:	12 - 13 Years

About the Author

Marcia Argueta Mickelson was born in Guatemala and immigrated to the United States as an infant. She attended high school in New Jersey and then graduated from Brigham Young University with a BA in American Studies. She is the author of five novels including Star Shining Brightly, The Huaca, and Where I Belong, and she is a winner of the Pura Belpré Young Adult Author Honor. She lives in Texas with her husband and three sons.

Editorial Reviews

03/27/2023

Following her mother’s death six months ago, biracial 17-year-old Sarah Mosley must transfer out of her Austin fine arts boarding school to become the primary caregiver for her eight-year-old brother, Steven, as well as the siblings’ now-alcohol-dependent and unemployed father, who is white. At her new high school, she meets light-brown skinned David Garza, a handsome and caring classmate who catches her up on coursework. There’s an immediate spark between them, but Sarah feels that she must set aside her growing feelings for David—as well as her grief surrounding her mother—to focus on familial responsibilities. When she begins exploring her Mexican and Guatemalan roots for a Spanish language class project, however, the research helps her connect with her mother’s heritage, provides an opportunity to grow closer to David, and opens up new avenues of communication between Sarah and her father. Sarah’s relationship with Steven is an unparalleled bright spot; despite the sometimes overwhelming responsibility of being Steven’s de facto parent, Sarah’s joy in supporting him is palpable. Through Sarah’s tentative steps toward healing, Mickelson (Where I Belong) attentively showcases the mending power of tenderness, patience, and love in this moving read. Ages 12–up. (May)

Publishers Weekly

"An honest and heartrending look at grief and loss, and at the often-unspoken weight teens must carry in silence."—School Library Journal

From the Publisher

09/22/2023

Gr 8 Up—Seventeen-year-old Sarah should be focusing on her artwork, friends, and classes at her Austin boarding school. Instead, she is starting her junior year at Richards High School, struggling to keep afloat as she takes care of her brother Steven, her father, and the ever-growing stack of bills that are now her responsibility. If her mom were still with them, she would make sure Sarah wouldn't have all these heavy responsibilities—and her dad wouldn't have fallen apart. As Sarah juggles her classes and tries to make money on the side for bills, she momentarily allows herself happy moments thinking about her sweet classmate David, who has befriended her brother Steven and offered her comfort and support. But as Sarah's father falls deeper into his depression over the loss of her mother, Sarah wonders if she will ever be able to focus on herself again. Readers will become immersed in Sarah's story and perhaps recognize what it feels like to push aside one's feelings and wishes in order to forge ahead. The portrayal of Sarah's dad as he struggles with his grief using alcohol is both tragic and realistic. Sarah's mother, whose death provides the catalyst that sets the story in motion, also provides some of the greatest support to Sarah, who uses her mother's beliefs and work in her own art—something that helps bring her family even closer. VERDICT An honest and heartrending look at grief and loss, and at the often-unspoken weight teens must carry in silence.—Selenia Paz

School Library Journal

2023-02-25
After her mother’s death and father’s breakdown, Sarah must balance household responsibilities and taking care of her little brother with attending a new school.

Seventeen-year-old San Antonio teen Sarah Mosley’s life in the six months since her mother died has been full of changes. A visual artist, she had to give up her spot at an Austin boarding school for the fine arts to move home and act as the primary caregiver for her precocious 8-year-old brother, Steven. Since her grief-stricken, hard-drinking White father lost his job as a university professor, Sarah has spent time selling custom drawings on Etsy to earn extra money for the family budget. At her new high school, Sarah decides to take Spanish to connect with her Mexican and Guatemalan maternal heritage, and she meets handsome and attentive David Garza, who’s immediately drawn to her. Despite their mutual attraction, Sarah feels too overwhelmed with family responsibilities to seriously consider romance. A highlight of the story is Sarah’s decision to base an art project on her family’s personal connection to her mother’s favorite Diego Rivera painting. The narrative lovingly conveys the pivotal role older siblings can play after a parent’s death and weaves in Sarah’s new interest in Guatemalan history and social activism in an organic manner.

A thoughtful and substantive story about loss, cultural discovery, and first love. (author’s note, discussion questions) (Fiction. 12-18)

Kirkus Reviews