Breathe and Count Back from Ten

Verónica Rentería is the protagonist of the story. She is a 17-year-old girl of Peruvian descent and immigrated to the United States with her parents when she was just one year old. Her sister, Dani, was born two years later. Verónica has hip dysplasia and has spent most of her life enduring surgeries, ableism, and coddling from her overprotective parents. Verónica dislikes being defined by other’s preconceptions and finds that people often compartmentalize and stereotype her:

Here, it seems everyone gets to be whole but me. They get to be seen for who they are, not for what they aren’t. They get to be defined by the things they do instead of the things they don’t. Meanwhile, I get split into all these little pieces: Peruvian. Disabled. Immigrant. Fragmented as if I couldn’t possibly be everything all at once, and more (111).

She is regularly in pain due to the hip dysplasia, but she doesn’t show it. Verónica’s version of Living with Disability is largely shaped by her rebellious nature. Verónica’s refusal to be defined by her disability or controlled by her parents is part of what inspires her to become a mermaid and gain