Skip to Main Content

Niles North Summer Reading 2024 - Incoming Freshmen: Brighter Than the Sun

Book

Download the Book for FREE now!

Simply use your school log-in to access the Overdrive website or app.

Need help downloading? Simply visit this page or ask a librarian for more help.

Realistic Fiction - Do you enjoy inspiring stories, with resilient characters learning to ask for help and set boundaries with family?

Content warnings for: racism, poverty, death & greif

video

Synopsis

Every morning, sixteen-year-old Sol wakes up at the break of dawn in her hometown of Tijuana, Mexico and makes the trip across the border to go to school in the United States. Though the commute is exhausting, this is the best way to achieve her dream: becoming the first person in her family to go to college.
 
When her family’s restaurant starts struggling, Sol must find a part-time job in San Diego to help her dad put food on the table and pay the bills. But her complicated school and work schedules on the US side of the border mean moving in with her best friend and leaving her family behind. 

With her life divided by an international border, Sol must come to terms with the loneliness she hides, the pressure she feels to succeed for her family, and the fact that the future she once dreamt of is starting to seem unattainable. Mostly, she’ll have to grapple with a secret she’s kept even from herself: that maybe she’s relieved to have escaped her difficult home life, and a part of her may never want to return.

(Provided by publisher)