Description:

What if you don't follow the rules and it radically alters the course of your life? What if you get kicked out of the house and lose all your friends and everyone you love?  Will you turn the corner into a world filled with unusual friends and create a new kind of family or self-destruct? **BOOKLIST STARRED REVIEW** ** ### Review **School Library Journal** Dole's infusion of lively, spicy Cuban-American culture set against a hot Miami setting makes it rise above many other titles in the genre... **Alejandro Agresti: Hollywood Film Director Down to the Bone is an original and exciting work that would make a great movie. The way Mayra Lazara Dole tells this story, will reach even the most reluctant of souls. **Booklist *Starred Review*  ****The dialogue is fast and funny... Supportive precisely because it is laugh-out-loud irreverent... **Kirkus Review ** " ... encompasses humor and love for Cuban culture... A passionate girl loses her first love but finds community and self in this flashy debut with...lots of heart." **Publisher's Weekly** "... honest, intense..." **Americas Award for Children's and Young Adult Literature. Commended.** **Edge Magazine ** "... Shai is a character to root for: sassy and sarcastic, insightful but naïve, loving but defensive. She's an authentic teenager down to her Miami slang and effusive enthusiasm..." ### From the Author Dole has a way with metaphors and comparisons that bring life and richness to her writing. The depictions of her characters create instantaneous emotional connections. **Lambda Literary**