Plot Summary: Mariana Ruiz is a fifteen-year-old Cuban American who’s father is a Senator for the state of Florida. Born in Lima, Peru, she grew up in Miami, Central Florida, and South Texas, and received a BFA from the University of Miami. No, most 15-year-olds’ fathers do not run for president.īut it’s impossible not to be drawn in as Mariana’s growing critical awareness leads her further and further from her father’s empty campaign slogans - and, inexorably, toward a decision between obedience to her parents or to her conscience.Īs Miami’s polluted water becomes the key issue of the campaign, Mariana concludes, “There is no such thing as both sides when one side is drinking contaminated water and the other side is contaminating it. Running by Natalia Sylvester, 2020, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Trade & Reference Publishers edition, in English Running (2020 edition) Open Library It looks like youre offline. Title: Running Author: Natalia Sylvester Publication Date: JPublisher: Clarion Books ISBN: 9780358124351 Genre: Realistic Contemporary Subjects: Politics, Practical Fiction Fathers and Daughters Fiction. Natalia Sylvester is the author Running, her YA debut, as well as two novels for adults, Everyone Knows You Go Home, which won an International Latino Book Award, and Chasing the Sun. And his daughter, 15-year-old Mariana, is not so keen about being a prop in his campaign.Īt first, she simply objects to the invasion of her privacy by prying media, and parents too eager to show her off: “How much more of our lives will we give up before it’s no longer worth it?”īut as Mariana connects with young activists in her high school’s PODER social action club, she begins to awaken to issues in South Florida - and the world: the threat to clean water posed by the wealthy’s version of “development,” feminism, homophobia, class inequality, gentrification, and climate change. A novel about waking up and standing up, and what happens when you stop seeing your dad as your hero-while the whole country is watching. In Natalia Sylvester’s 2020 novel, Running, Senator Anthony Ruiz is running for president of the United States.