A Book Review by Melinda Sue Chapa Class of 2010 Ana’s Story: A Journey of Hope Authored by Jena Bush

This book, Ana’s Story, is about a young girl (from Panama) who was born with HIV. Not knowing what to do, she lives her life hiding the truth. When she was little she was told that her illness was to be kept a secret and that she should tell no one, or else no one would like her, no one would want to be her friend. When she was little they used to kill people if they had HIV. People with HIV were kicked out of their church. They were treated badly. Her mother and father, too, had HIV. Her mother also had a daughter that was like Ana, born with HIV. Ana’s sister never made it home from the hospital. It caused her mother much sorrow and soon thereafter, Ana’s mother passed away. Her father, not being able to be home and watch them, soon gave them to their grandmother. Not long after, he, too, became very sick and died from AIDS. As Ana was growing up, life got harder for her. Her grandmother started to beat her. Soon, she moved in with her aunt and she, too, did the same thing to her.

 Ana soon left, but wanted her little sister to be safe, so Ana had to leave her little sister behind. It was not long before Ana was put into a juvenile center. While there she soon met this boy who she told her secret to. He told her it was okay because he, too, had AIDS. It was not long before he left, but he told her he would be back for her. Later on, they came for Ana and took her to this AIDS. Soon Ana and the boy got real close. Later, Ana became pregnant. Not knowing what she was going to do, Ana decided to keep the baby. Before the baby was born, Ana’s boyfriend got really sick with his AIDS and was admitted to a hospital. Ana had a beautiful baby girl. Soon, Ana had to move out of the center and returned to live with her aunt. Ana, still very young, decided that she would break up with her boyfriend, the father of her baby, and keep on living her life to the fullest. Ana started going out with her friends and soon met someone else. This guy really liked Ana and also loved her baby girl. Ana got really close to him and soon he got a job and wanted to support her. Ana thought it was time that she told him the truth about herself, that she had AIDS. So Ana told him and hoped that he would accept her for who she was. Ana was only seventeen years old and today is still living her life to its fullest. The wonderful thing about Ana is that she never gave up on life and continued to look forward to every day she was given.

I recommend you read this book. You can really learn from this book. You can learn how easy it is to get HIV and how fast accidents can happen. This book touches your heart. It tells how a young girl chose to better her life and never give up.

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