Ana's Story: A Journey of Hope
by Jenna Bush

    ANA'S STORY by Jenna Bush
    Category:  Non-Fiction
    Age Recommendation:  Grades 9+
    Release Date:  9/28/07
    Publisher:  HarperCollins
    Reviewed by:  Jennifer Wardrip, aka "The Genius"
    Rating:  4 Stars


    First Daughter Jenna Bush spent time during an internship with UNICEF working throughout Latin America and
    the Caribbean.  During that time, she met a young girl named Ana.  This is Ana's story, and it's one filled with
    hurt and abuse, with illness and disease, but also with hope and triumph.

    Ana was born with HIV/AIDS.  She knew, from the time she was young, that she was different from many other
    children.  She was sick, and she didn't understand why.  When she loses first her mother and then her father to
    AIDS, Ana knows pain and heartbreak.  And then the abuse starts, from uncaring relatives to whose homes she
    gets shuffled around to.

    Ana's life seems to take a turn for the better when she finds a center that specializes in the treatment of her
    disease -- and when she meets Berto, a young man with whom Ana can, for the first time, share the secret of her
    illness.  What once seems like a death sentence turns into the longing to have as normal a life as possible,
    including an education, a family, and a future with Berto.

    ANA'S STORY is both Miss Bush's story of serving as a UNICEF ambassador and Ana's story of wanting a
    better life for her young daughter, who was born without the HIV/AIDS virus.  It's at times both sad and
    uplifting, but above all serves as a reminder that this disease is a very real problem that demands a solution.  
    Filled with several photographs and written in short, easy-to-read chapters, it's the story of one brave young
    adult for all young adults.