The Distance Between Us

The Distance Between Us is Reyna Grande's middle grade version of her memoir about growing up in a small town in Guerrero, Mexico, with her younger siblings and their grandmother while their parents worked in the United States. The adaptation keeps the core of that story: a child who keeps waiting for a father she has mostly known through absence, and a family trying to hold together across a border. It is written for younger readers, so the scenes are shorter and the language plainer than in the adult book, but the emotional stakes are not softened.

The narration is close and direct. Reyna is a sharp, observant narrator, and much of the book's warmth comes from her eye for small absurdities and family routines alongside the harder moments. The story moves through the years of waiting, the decision that finally sends her north, and the disorientation of arriving somewhere she does not yet speak the language. Grande writes about migration as something lived day to day: school, food, rules at home, and the slow work of belonging to two places at once.

Reading it feels less like following a plot than sitting with a family over a long stretch of time. Expect an unhurried pace and honesty about neglect, fear, and longing. It works well as a first encounter with immigration stories for young readers, and as a gentle entry point for adults who want to see how Grande's larger story began.