Book cover of Lucky Broken Girl

Book description

Winner of the 2018 Pura Belpre Award!

"A book for anyone mending from childhood wounds."-Sandra Cisneros, author of The House on Mango Street

In this unforgettable multicultural coming-of-age narrative-based on the author's childhood in the 1960s-a young Cuban-Jewish immigrant girl is adjusting to her new life in New York…

When you buy books, we may earn a commission that helps keep our lights on (or join the rebellion as a member).

Why read it?

2 authors picked Lucky Broken Girl as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Lucky Broken Girl is about overcoming adversity and finding hope. 

Ruthie Mizrahi and her family immigrated from Cuba to New York City. Immigration brings lots of new challenges, especially learning a new language. Ruthie is adjusting fairly well until she’s in a car accident and breaks her leg. As part of her recovery, Ruthie gets a body cast that stretches all the way from her chest to her toes. 

I read this book because my sister, Robin, was also in a car accident and ended up in the same kind of cast as Ruthie. My sister’s accident was the inspiration…

Ruth Behar writes for both adults and children and is a multi-award-winning writer and a Cuban-American Anthropologist. She’s also Jewish with Ashkenazi and Sephardic roots. Based on the author’s real experiences, we follow ten-year-old Ruthie and her family who are recent Jewish-Cuban immigrants trying to make a new home in 1960s Queens, NY after Castro comes to power. Just as Ruthie is adjusting to school and making new friends, a devastating car accident puts her in a body cast for a year. It’s a beautiful, heartbreaking, and inspiring story. I particularly loved her friendship with recent Indian immigrant, Ramu, who…

If you love Lucky Broken Girl...

Book cover of Unfathomable: 20 Wild (But True) Stories About the Ocean

Unfathomable by Mary Boone,

Did you know you can survive being swallowed by a whale? Or that octopus wrestling used to be an actual sport? Or, that once a town in Oregon didn't know what to do with a whale carcass that washed up on their beaches, so they...BLEW IT UP?

As strange as…

Want books like Lucky Broken Girl?

Our community of 13,000+ authors has personally recommended 100 books like Lucky Broken Girl.

Browse books like Lucky Broken Girl

Book cover of Queen of the Hanukkah Dosas
Book cover of A Place at the Table
Book cover of My Basmati Bat Mitzvah

Share your top 3 reads of 2026!

And get a beautiful page showing off your 3 favorite reads.

170

readers submitted
so far, will you?

📚 If you like Lucky Broken Girl, you might also like...

Book cover of From Cells to Ourselves: The Story of Evolution

From Cells to Ourselves by Gill Arbuthnott,

4.5 billion years ago, Earth was forming - but nothing could have survived there…

From Cells to Ourselves is the incredible story of how life on earth started and how it gradually evolved from the first simple cells to the abundance of life around us today. Walk with dinosaurs, analyse…

Book cover of India Muerte and the Ship of the Dead

India Muerte and the Ship of the Dead by Set Sytes,

India Muerte and the Ship of the Dead is the first book in a pirate fantasy adventure series, featuring the thrilling exploits of India Muerte in an exotic yet dangerous world.

After a night of misadventure, a roguish street lad from Mexico Island wakes up aboard a legendary ship crewed…

5 book lists we think you will like!