Wait For Me by An Na

ISBN: 978-0-399-24275-5
G.P.Putnam's Sons, NY
2006
169 pages

Plot Summary

It's the hot summer before Mina's senior year in high school and she's spending her time working in her family's dry cleaners and protecting her little sister from their mother's wrath. Suna doesn't hear well and her mother feels that she is "damaged goods." Mina, on the other hand, is supposedly the perfect daughter although Mina is worried that her lies will soon come crashing down on her. Her mother wants her to go to Harvard but she has been changing her grades - they are nowhere near good enough for an Ivy League school. Her mother hires Ysrael, a Mexican teen, to work at the dry cleaners and he and Mina fall in love.

Critical Evaluation

This is a sensitive portrayal of lies and family loyalty and loves and desires. Mina doesn't know exactly what she wants - she just knows that her wants are different from her mother's. A criticism of An Na's writings is that the Korean parents are always angry - and it is the mother who is angry in this book.

Reader's Annotation

Mina tries hard to be the perfect daughter and the perfect sister, working at her family's dry cleaners during the summer, but she falls in love with the young Mexican worker who has dreams of his own.

Author Info

An Na was born in Korea but raised in San Diego. She won the Printz Award for her first YA book, A Step From Heaven. She lives in Vermont with her husband and daughter.

Genre

YA novel - coming-of-age

Curriculum Ties

high school reading list

Booktalking Ideas

1. Jonathon helps Mina lie to her mother about being president of the honor society.

2. Ysrael takes Mina and her sister to the Mexican restaurant so they can hear his music.

Reading/Interest Level

high school (age 14+) for both

Challenge Issues and Defense

a scene of non-consensual sex, racism

sensitive portrayal of mixed race dating
Excellent reviews from School Library Journal and Publishers Weekly

Why I Included This Book

I did my author report on An Na so I wanted to read all her books.