St. Martin's Press
Dreaming of Home: How We Turn Fear Into Pride, Power, and Real Change
Couldn't load pickup availability
NOW A USA TODAY BESTSELLER!
"Essential reading...entirely suited to a turbulent moment." --Washington Post
A MacArthur "Genius" shares her inspiring story, from undocumented newcomer to leader in a powerful immigrant youth movement.
Dreaming of Home is a coming-of-age story for both a young woman finding her true self and a social movement of immigrant youth trailblazers who inspired the world and changed the lives of millions.
Cristina Jiménez's family fought to stay afloat as Ecuador fell into a political and economic crisis. When she was thirteen, her family came to the US seeking a better life, landing in an overcrowded one-bedroom apartment in Queens, New York. She lived in fear of deportation and ashamed of being undocumented, but eventually, Cristina discovered she was not alone. She made it into college when students and advocates won a change in the law, allowing undocumented students to access higher education. She was proud to be the first one in her family to go to college, but she felt out of place until she met professors and student activists who opened a new world where she found her calling within a community of social justice organizers.
With deep candor and humor, Cristina shows us what it's like to grow up undocumented and the reality that being a "good" immigrant doesn't shield you from systemic racism, danger--or even the confusion of falling in love. She invites us to acknowledge the America that never was and to imagine the America that could be when everyday people come together, build power, and fight for change, even when the world around us seems to be crumbling.
Share
Book Details
ISBN:
9781250275660
EAN:
9781250275660
Binding:
Hardcover
Pages:
320
Authors:
Cristina Jiménez
Publisher:
St. Martin's Press
Published Date: 2025-27-05
View full details
Thank you Cristina for sharing your journey and work for immigrant youth with the world. This memoir was beautifully written and showed so much love/respect for folks who supported this work from the beginning. This is one of my favorite books I’ve read this year and recommend to anyone wanting to hear from a leader who uses her love for community, immigrants, and intersectional organizing.
Wonderful memoir which is more than a memoir. Jimenez documents the incredible work of a group of immigrant youth to mobilize on behalf of immigrant rights as she herself struggles for those rights for herself and her family. The book is an outstanding recounting of the struggles, the strategies, the friendships, and the values that Cristina upholds during critical times in our nation's recent history. Beautifully written and very inspirational as well as educational. Kudos!
Even as we walk on the same streets, and we have the same aspirations for our children, because of happenstance of how lines were drawn on maps a century ago, we live totally different lives. This book illuminated me to how in some ways I am just like my neighbors, but in other ways my life is totally different.My only problem reading it is that multiple times I got so angry I needed to stop reading to calm down.
I think this is a must-read for the current moment. At a time when it feels like the forces that would take us back 100 years are consolidating their hold on power, Cristina's book reminds us that --with courage -- regular, around-the-way, "ordinary" people can exercise power too. The book also touched me as a first generation college student (45 years ago-- hard to type that number), I often felt alone and unseen. Cristina's book shows how we can have power there too-- by moving beyond our fears and getting involved-- finding your community. It is a hopeful book in a dark time. I recommend Dreaming of Home highly.
This is a wonderful, heartfelt book, written by a person who has done so much with her life to humanize and improve the plight of the innocent undocumented. Christina generously shares her struggles, her companions, and her world. I was honored to meet her at a reading, and loved the book end-to-end.
