SuitabookWe Were Here
Matt de la Peña
- Reading
- Because the story includes a court-ordered group-home placement, family estrangement and a break-out, check in about emotional impact. Discuss Miguel’s choices without assuming the book excuses, condemns or resolves them.
- Themes
- Identity and starting again: Miguel wants to reach Mexico and begin again, while the story frames running away as potentially leading back towards what he is avoiding. The journey appears to test whether a new place can resolve inner or relational difficulties, but its final meaning is not established.
- Family estrangement: Miguel feels unable to remain at home after his mother stops looking him in the face and he considers leaving his mother and brother behind. Family rejection is central to Miguel’s circumstances, but the fuller causes, perspectives and resolution are unknown.
- Justice and institutional care: A judge sends Miguel to a group home for a year and requires journal writing so a counsellor can try to understand his thinking. The arrangement is presented through Miguel’s perspective, including his belief that the placement may have helped him, but the wider treatment is unclear.
- Worth knowing
- Consider whether the treatment of the unspecified incident, institutional placement and escape feels compassionate, challenging or simplifying. The book also invites attention to how family estrangement shapes his wish to start over.