Ana's Story: A Journey of Hope

Story of HIV-positive girl that Jenna met during her work with UNICEF. A powerful, sensitive account of poverty, abuse, and illness. The sub-title "A Journey of Hope" shows where the story is going. Although the subject of the story is only 17, obviously there is a lot more to be written about her story and life. Jenna does a beautiful job in relating this story with great compassion. She also has many tips and references to refer to for help with the kinds of subjects discussed in the book.

This is a very quick read. Pages are short and there are a lot of pictures. The paper is a heavy glossy texture, so that the book itself feels that no expense was spared to present this story.

I understand the point of narrative nonfiction is to avoid embellishment at all costs, but in this case I think the obvious concern for utmost accuracy robbed the story of much of its emotion. Here we have a true story about a teenage mother who was born HIV-positive, and I came away from it feeling about as moved as from your average low-budget after school special. Details about people's personalities were almost completely absent, to the point where I never felt like I knew where Ana or anyone else was coming from or why they did the things they did. As sad as it sounds, this story probably would have been more touching had it been a completely fictionalized version of real events. However, this book isn't a complete waste of time. I show more do appreciate the resources and discussion topics at the back of the book. It would probably be a reasonable reading assignment for someone completely naive about HIV. Unfortunately, to those of us pay even the vaguest attention to the news, this dispassionate story is easily forgotten. show less

Jenna Bush Hager met Ana during her travels in Latin America for UNICEF. Ana was born HIV positive and the book is a first-hand account of her childhood where she was orphaned, abused, and struggled to survive. It's a story of hope in the face of every obstacle. It's a quick read.

Ana's life is a collection of bits and pieces of her past. Infected at birth with HIV, she had lost her mother, her father and youngest sister to AIDS. Ana is unaware of many details from her early childhood, with only blurry memories of her parents and baby sister. Ana and her younger sister Isabel are sent to live with their grandparents, where ten-year-old Ana is informed by her grandmother that she has HIV. She is told to keep her illness a secret from others - just one of the many secrets young Ana is forced to keep to herself - from sexual and physical abuse perpetrated by her grandparents, to broader neglect and mistreatment from her other family members.

Shuffled from home to home, Ana rarely finds safety or acceptance. Until she show more meets and falls in love with Berto, becomes pregnant, and then a mother at age seventeen. She begins her journey of hope - a journey of protection of herself, her baby, and others. Struggling to break free from the cycle of abuse, silence, and illness with passion and eloquence - proving to the world that Ana is living with, not dying from HIV/AIDS.

I enjoyed this book. I think that it could be very instructive for children who are affected by HIV and/or AIDS. I give this book an A! show less

Ana's Story is a the tale of a teenage mother living with HIV somewhere in Latin America. She was born with the disease, having been infected by her mother, who in turn was infected by a rapist. Ana's life is a sad tale of secrecy, abuse, abandonment and fear. But it's also contains moments of strength, hope and love. The text itself is rather simplistic. I don't know if it's intentionally simplified to reach a less literate audience, or if that's the standard of young adult books these days. Either way,I think it took away some of the power of Ana's story. But then again, it's not a story to entertain, but rather to inform folks about some of the struggles endured by people suffering from HIV and AIDS. In that respect, Ms. Bush show more accomplished her task quite well.
--J. show less

I felt this book was poorly done. It was as if I was reading a small child's picture book. I appreciate Jenna Bush for her work and felt for Ana but the whole point is, did I feel moved enough to want to make a difference, as with all books of this nature should? The answer sad to say is...no. I was rather glad to be done with it. I felt cheated. I truly feel that if authors take on bringing a message to the world, they should do so with effort. This book lacked that. Her work in UNICEF may be commendable, but her writing stirred nothing within me.

Ana’s Story is a well written true story about a young girl named Ana who was infected by HIV from her mother when she was born. Her mother, who she loved dearly, died of AIDS when she was very young. Ana and her sister Isabelle are sent to live with their grandparents. Ana is pressured by them to keep her disease a secret. She kept many secrets and suffered many hardships that may have often been considered “too much” for a child her age, but Ana was very mature. She went through the death of her baby sister, the death of her father, managed to control her HIV, and suffered abuse from her grandma, aunt and Ernesto. She was shuffled from home to home and was destined to fall into her mother's footsteps because of the environment show more that she grew up in. Ana was moved to the Hogar, a home for children with HIV. She fell in love with Berto, a boy she met in the Hogar that has a very similar story to hers. Berto and Ana felt that they were each other's closest friends and that they were each finally loved and accepted by each other. One day, Ana found out that she had become pregnant with Berto’s baby. This was a scary feeling for her, and was a surprise to Berto as well as many other close makeshift family members that were at the Hogar. Ana’s greatest fear was that her baby would become infected with HIV. Ana discovers new hope and new beginnings for her life. I would recommend Ana’s Story to others because of it’s realistic and straightforward aspect. It is also very inspiring and full of the kind of hope that makes you want to keep reading.
~Kylee Lange show less