Erika L. Sánchez’s New York Times bestselling novel, I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter, is coming to Netflix. Linda Yvette Chávez screenplay adaption of the novel will be directed by award-winning actor America Ferrera This will mark Ferrera’s feature directorial debut. Anonymous Content optioned the rights to the book under the company’s first-look deal with Aevitas Creative Management.
“Years ago, I fell in love with Erika L. Sánchez’ stunning novel, I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter. The depth, wit and searing intelligence of her writing, and her young Latina heroine, struck me to my core and left me wanting so much more. I am truly honored and humbled to direct Linda Yvette Chávez’s beautifully adapted screenplay. The opportunity to direct the work of these two incredibly talented Latina writers is a dream come true. I can’t wait to share this film with the many fans of the novel, and to introduce this funny, profound, and resonant story to the world.” Ferrera commented.
A National Book Award finalist in 2017 and winner of the 2018 Tomas Rivera Mexican American Children’s Book Award, I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter is a poignant, laugh-out-loud funny contemporary YA about losing a sister and finding yourself amid the pressures, expectations, and stereotypes of growing up in a Mexican American home. The story follows Julia Reyes, the precocious and strong-willed teenaged daughter of first-generation Mexican immigrants. She often clashes with her more traditional parents, who wish she were more like her sister Olga, the platonic ideal of a Mexican daughter. However, when Olga is killed in a tragic accident, it is up to Julia to hold her family together.