Estimates are that more than 45 million Latino people live in the United States—and that number continues to grow every day. In LaVida Real: True Stories of Latino Students Today, a few of these people share their inspiring, touching, and sometimes difficult experiences of living in and growing up in, or moving to the United States.

Some of the people you will meet include:

• Angela, a gang girl and abuse survivor who refuses to give up and finally discovers what’s most important in life.
• Diego, a high-school senior who must pull his family together when his schizophrenic father suddenly disappears.
• Yecenia, a determined young woman who goes from growing up in a garage to graduating from UCLA.