Movie - Cabrini

PG-13/2:25

Wide release 3/8/2024

Viewed date at Thursday, March in Hanover, PA

IMBd: 7.9/10

RT Critic:  91  Audience:  98

Critic's Consensus:  Aided by Cristiana Dell'Anna's performance in the title role, Cabrini is an uplifting biopic with a timeless message.

Cag:  6/Awesome  

Actors:  Cristiana Dell'Anna, David Morse, John Lithgow

My comments:  First movie on the big screen in a long time, perhaps a year?   Worth the wait, for this was an extraordinary film, based on the real person, Mother Cabrini, the first American saint.  Gritting my teeth I watched conceited white men make ridiculous, ruthless, selfish decisions and an extremely strong-willed female take them all on.  Immigration, such a timely subject, was just as timely 135 years ago, only this time it was the Italian immigrants that were being scorned and belittled.  Very powerful movie, which I loved.

RT/ IMDb Summary:  From Alejandro Monteverde, award-winning director of "Sound of Freedom", comes the powerful epic of Francesca Cabrini, an Italian immigrant who arrives in New York City in 1889 and is greeted by disease, crime, and impoverished children. Cabrini sets off on a daring mission to convince the hostile mayor to secure housing and healthcare for society's most vulnerable. With broken English and poor health, Cabrini uses her entrepreneurial mind to build an empire of hope unlike anything the world had ever seen.

83. American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins

Listened to Audio on Libby, borrowed from Bosler
narrated by Yareli Arizmendi
Unabridged audio (16:43)
2020 Flatiron Books
400 pgs.
Adult CRF
Finished 5/23/2020
Goodreads rating: 4.32 - 76,513 ratings
My rating: 5
Setting: Contemporary Acapulco, Mexico, Nogales and north through the desert to Tucson

First line/s:  "One of the very first bullets comes in through the open window above the toilet where Luca is standing."

My comments:  This is an amazing, powerful book.  It tells the story of a mother and her eight-year old son fleeing from certain death after her husband and 14 other family members - including her mother =  were murdered by the cartel in Acapulco.  Their harrowing adventure is unimaginable ... brave, incredibly scary, and sad.  It's hard to believe and hard to imagine how the atrocities described in this book can possibly be happening in our world RIGHT NOW.  Incredible thoughtful, lovely writing.  And the narrator was just perfect, spot on, with a lovely Spanish accent, pronouncing everything not only with the perfect accent but with the right emphasis on letters that are different than English.  Wow, just wow.  Highly recommended must-read for anyone and everyone. 

Goodreads synopsis:  

80. Other Words for Home by Jasmine Warga

listened to Audio - borrowed from the library
read by Vaneh Assadourian
Unabridged audio (3:50)
2019 Balzer & Bray
352 pgs.
Middle Grade CRF
Finished August 19, 2019
Goodreads rating:   4.48 - 1884 ratings
My rating: 3
Setting: Contemporary Syria, then US

First line/s:  "It is almost summer and everybody smells like fish,
except for right down by the sea
where if you hold your nose just right
you can smell the sprawling salt water and the jasmine
instead."

My comments:  I wish I'd read this instead of listened to it - the words in verse are so much more beautiful than listening to what sounds like prose.  The book seemed to end abruptly.  I wasn't expecting it because I was listening to it and it had not been very long - so much shorter because it's written in verse.  I found the first half of the book, the part that took place in Syria, to be a little bit slow going.  And I wish that it had given me a little more feel for the country of Syria.  It didn't.  Once they got to America the story became a little more interesting.  It was intriguing to think about how a newcomer to America would not realize the prejudice against Muslims.  I don't think I'd ever considered that point of view, particularly from an innocent young girl who only know of the strife in her country and being a Muslim was just part of every day for her.  Very character driven.  I wanted more setting!

Goodreads synopsis:  
I am learning how to be
sad
and happy
at the same time.
          Jude never thought she’d be leaving her beloved older brother and father behind, all the way across the ocean in Syria. But when things in her hometown start becoming volatile, Jude and her mother are sent to live in Cincinnati with relatives.
          At first, everything in America seems too fast and too loud. The American movies that Jude has always loved haven’t quite prepared her for starting school in the US—and her new label of “Middle Eastern,” an identity she’s never known before. But this life also brings unexpected surprises—there are new friends, a whole new family, and a school musical that Jude might just try out for. Maybe America, too, is a place where Jude can be seen as she really is.

PICTURE BOOK - Gittel's Journey: An Ellis Island Story by Leslea Newman

Illustrated by  Amy June Bates

2019, Abrams Books for Young Readers

HC $17.99

40 light brown pgs.

Goodreads rating:  4.18- 114 ratings

My rating:  4

Endpapers:  Woodcut ship/waves/sky/statue of liberty on blue
Borders of each page look like woodcuts, and there are larger prints of candlesticks and the statue of liberty on their own endpages.

Illustrations:  

1^st line/s:  " 'Gittel, will you write to me from America?' Raisa asked."

My comments:  This is a touching story, one that has been told in some version over and over.  This time, however, it's not a family coming to a new land, it's one single nine-year-old girl.  I can't even imagine, but it's based on a true story, although the "true story" girl was a few years older. Local illustrator Amy June Bates did a wonderful job with the illustrations, which include some lovely block prints (I do enjoy block prints!) Quite a bit of text, but the story is told well so that even quite young children will understand.

Goodreads:  Gittel and her mother were supposed to immigrate to America together, but when her mother is stopped by the health inspector, Gittel must make the journey alone. Her mother writes her cousin’s address in New York on a piece of paper. However, when Gittel arrives at Ellis Island, she discovers the ink has run and the address is illegible! How will she find her family? Both a heart-wrenching and heartwarming story, Gittel’s Journey offers a fresh perspective on the immigration journey to Ellis Island. The book includes an author’s note explaining how Gittel’s story is based on the journey to America taken by Lesléa Newman’s grandmother and family friend.

PICTURE BOOK - Dreamers by Yuyi Morales

Illustrated by the author

2018, Neal Porter Books, Holiday House, New York

HC $18.99

32 pgs.

Goodreads rating:  4.66 - 1130 ratings

My rating: 5

Endpapers: interesting....brown wall ?

Illustrations are gorgeous!  This is what she says:  "I painted with acrylics and drew on paper with ink and brushes and a nib-pen that once belonged to Maurice Sendak, given to me by Lynn Caponera.  
To give the book life, I photographed and scanned many things, including the floor of my studio; the comal where I grill my quesadillas; my childhood drawings kept by my mother; a chair; a brick from my house; old walls from the streets of Malinaleo;my hometown of Xalapa, and my house; a metal sheet; traditional Mexican fabrics; crepe, craft, and amate paper; leaves and plants from my garden; an old woven blouse; hand-painted pants I made for my son, Kelly; old wood; water in a bucket; jute twine; a trditional wool skirt from /'Chiapas; Kelly's childhood drawings; my first handmade book; embroidery; and more."

1^st line/s:"I dreamed of you, then you appeared.  Together we became Amor - Love - Amor.  Resplendent life, you and I."

My comments:  Oo la la.  The book is simple, gorgeous, and meaningful, especially in this day of controversies surrounding immigration and immigrants themselves.  Her two-page explanation at the end is wonderful.  This is truly a special book.

Goodreads:  Caldecott Honor artist and five-time Pura Belpré Award winner Yuyi Morales tells her own immigration story in this picture-book tribute to the transformative power of hope . . . and reading. An instant New York Times bestseller!
          In 1994, Yuyi Morales left her home in Xalapa, Mexico and came to the US with her infant son. She left behind nearly everything she owned, but she didn't come empty-handed.
          She brought her strength, her work, her passion, her hopes and dreams...and her stories. Caldecott Honor artist and five-time Pura Belpré winner Yuyi Morales's gorgeous new picture book Dreamers is about making a home in a new place. Yuyi and her son Kelly's passage was not easy, and Yuyi spoke no English whatsoever at the time. But together, they found an unexpected, unbelievable place: the public library. There, book by book, they untangled the language of this strange new land, and learned to make their home within it.
          Dreamers is a celebration of what migrants bring with them when they leave their homes. It's a story about family. And it's a story to remind us that we are all dreamers, bringing our own gifts wherever we roam. Beautiful and powerful at any time but given particular urgency as the status of our own Dreamersbecomes uncertain, this is a story that is both topical and timeless.
          The lyrical text is complemented by sumptuously detailed illustrations, rich in symbolism. Also included are a brief autobiographical essay about Yuyi's own experience, a list of books that inspired her (and still do), and a description of the beautiful images, textures, and mementos she used to create this book.
          A parallel Spanish-language edition, Soñadores, is also available

PICTURE BOOK - Her Right Foot by Dave Eggers

Illustrated by Shawn Harris

2017, Chronicle Books, San Francisco
HC $19.99 (books are getting SO expensive!)

104 pgs.

Goodreads rating: 4.28 - 918 ratings

My rating:  5

Endpapers:  Cut paper of the fencing around the Statue (at least I think it's from somewhere on the island)

Illustrations:  All cut CONSTRUCTION paper, and India ink.

1^st line/s:"You have likely heard of a place called France."

My comments:  I've decided that I like everything about this book.  How the text is talking directly to the reader.  The illustrations, which are created out of cut construction paper.  The message....oh yes, the message. I'm so glad I discovered this book, since our library has not (yet) purchased it....

Goodreads:  "I want to hold this book in one hand and a torch in the other and stand on an island someplace so everyone can see." —Lemony Snicket
     If you had to name a statue, any statue, odds are good you'd mention the Statue of Liberty. Have you seen her?
     She's in New York. 
     She's holding a torch. 
     And she's in mid-stride, moving forward. 
     But why?
In this fascinating, fun take on nonfiction, Dave Eggers and Shawn Harris investigate a seemingly small trait of America's most emblematic statue. What they find is about more than history, more than art. What they find in the Statue of Liberty's right foot is the powerful message of acceptance that is essential to an entire country's creation. 

PICTURE BOOK - I Pledge Allegiance by Pat Mora & Libby Martinez

Illustrated by Patrice Barton

2014, Alfred A. Knopf

available in paper ($7.99) and HC ($16.99)

32 pgs.

Goodreads rating:  3.97 - 234 ratings

My rating: 4

Endpapers: A large, faint American flage with the words of the pledge in bold font

1^st line/s:  'On Monday when I get to school, my teacher, Mrs. Adams, asks, "Did your great-aunt pass her test?"'

My comments: A good story and I very much enjoyed the illustrations.  Ms. Mora and Ms. Martinez collaborate on this story based on their great-aunt, who they called Lobo,  who became an American citizen in her late 70s.  It's also a story about memorizing The Pledge of Allegiance - both remembering the words and thinking about what they mean.  Very much recommended.

Goodreads:  Patriotism across the generations as a little girl and her great aunt learn the Pledge of Allegiance together.
     Libby's great aunt, Lobo, is from Mexico, but the United States has been her home for many years, and she wants to become a U.S. citizen. At the end of the week, Lobo will say the Pledge of Allegiance at a special ceremony. Libby is also learning the Pledge this week, at school-at the end of the week, she will stand up in front of everyone and lead the class in the Pledge. Libby and Lobo practice together-asking questions and sharing stories and memories-until they both stand tall and proud, with their hands over their hearts.

PICTURE BOOK - Anna & Solomon by Elaine Snyder

Illustrated by Harry Bliss

2014, Farrar Straus Giroux Books for Young Readers, NY

OP in hardcover, available for Kindle

32 pgs.

Goodreads rating: 3.83 - 109 ratings

My rating: 4

Endpapers: Light blue (solid)

1^st line/s:  "Once -- and not once upon a time, because this is a true story -- in 1897 in Russia there lived a handsome young man who fell in love with a beautiful  young woman, and one bright day, under a canopy of leaves and spring flowers, they were married."

My comments:  Immigration, whether it happened over a hundred years ago or now, is still the story of people moving from one country to another.  So even though the true story of Anna & Solomon happened 1n 1897, we can certainly relate today.  And although this is the story of a loving Jewish couple, it could be the story of any couple of any religion or culture.  And this story has a bit of a twist to it....a twist which shows Solomon's patience and love for Anna!

Goodreads:  In 1897, a young man named Solomon fell in love with and married a beautiful young woman named Anna. They lived in Russia, which was dangerous at that time for a Jewish family, so Solomon moved to the United States, where he worked and saved until he had enough money to send Anna a ticket for the  voyage across the ocean. But when Solomon went to meet Anna’s ship, Anna’s younger brother was waiting for him. Solomon took in her brother and worried and saved until he could send the money for Anna’s passage again—but this time, Anna’s older brother was waiting. When Solomon sent the money a third time and Anna’s mother arrived, Solomon wondered if he would ever see his dear wife again. 
          Anna & Solomon is based on the true story of the author’s grandparents’ immigration. 

PICTURE BOOK - Shanghai Sukkah by Heidi Smith Hyde

Illustrated by Jing Jing Tsong

2015, Kar-Ben Publishing

32 pgs.

Goodreads rating:  4.07 - 29 ratings

My rating: 4

Endpapers: front:  Berline/ back: Shanghai streets

1^st line/s: "On his tenth birthday, Marcus found himself on an ocean liner, headed for Shanghai."

My comments:  Here's another wonderful picture book that sheds light on yet another aspect of history that I was totally unaware of.  It leaves me with many questions....are there still Jewish communities in Shanghai?  I'll have to research farther.  This was a book celebrating history, friendship, traditions, and cultures.  Wonderful!

Goodreads:  Fleeing the Holocaust in Europe, Marcus moves with his family from Berlin to Shanghai. With help from his new friend Liang, Marcus sets out to build a unique sukkah in time for the harvest festival of Sukkot.

11. The Leaving of Things by Jay Antani

read on my Kindle
2013 Bandwagon PRESS
368 pgs.
I would consider it YA, but think it is actually considered Adult - CRF
Finished 2.23.17
Goodreads rating:  3.78 (1871 ratings)
My rating: 4
Contemporary India

First line/s:

My comments:  I actually decided to read this because I love the cover!  For the last dozen years or so, I've had quite a fascination with India, so this novel at this time suited me quite well.  Set in the late 1980s, it reads like a memoir.  Vikram is a young man just graduated from high school who, after living for the last twelve years in Wisconsin, is forced to move back to India with his family.  He doesn't want to.  He has friends, a girlfriend, and college to look forward to.  Back in his native land it is hard to reconcile the American teenager he has become with the oh-so-strange country of his birth.  The story tells of his first year back in India, the homesickness he feels for America, as well as the enlightenment and thrill of new and incredibly different sights, sounds, smells, foods, language, customs, and lifestyle.  This glimpse into modern day (well, almost modern day) India is both fascinating and interesting.

Goodreads synopsis:  Vikram is not your model Indian-American teenager. Rebellious and adrift in late 1980s Wisconsin, he is resentful of his Indian roots and has no clue what he wants from his future—other than to escape his family’s life of endless moving and financial woes. But after a drunken weekend turns disastrous, Vikram’s outraged parents decide to pack up the family and return to India—permanently.
          So begins a profound journey of self-discovery as Vikram, struggling with loneliness, culture shock, and the chaos of daily Indian life, finds his creativity awakened by a new romance and an old camera. His artistic gifts bring him closer to a place and family he barely knew. But a devastating family crisis challenges Vikram’s sense of his destiny, hurtling him toward a crossroads where he must make the fateful choice between India, the land of his soul, and America, the land of his heart

MOVIE - Brooklyn

PG-13 (1:51)

Limited release 11/4/15

Viewed Tuesday, 1/12/16 at ElCon

RT Critic:  98  Audience:  90
Critic's Consensus:   Brooklyn buttresses outstanding performances from Saoirse Ronan and Emory Cohen with a rich period drama that tugs at the heartstrings as deftly as it satisfies the mind.

Cag:  5.5 Just loved it, top quality, too...

Directed by John Crowley
Written by Nick Hornby

Fox Searchlight

Saoirse Ronan - who was absolutely wonderful!

My comments: A period story, (early 1950s) with excellent acting, lots of giggles, a few tiny sniffles, and wonderful costuming and hairstyles.  The storytelling was superb, not sappy, thoughtful, with a lovely, perfect ending.

RT Summary:  Eilis Lacey followed her sister, Rose's, plan to leave Ireland and find a better future and job in the US. She departs terribly, enduring seasickness and a terrible relationship with her cabin mates. A kind traveler gives her advice to live in Brooklyn, where many Irish immigrants live. Eilis settles in Brooklyn and becomes close to Father Flood, a Catholic priest. She gets a job in a department store and falls in love with an Italian boy named Tony. News from home sends Eilis back to Ireland, away from Tony.

PICTURE BOOK - Fiona's Lace - Patricia Polacco

Illustrated by the author

2014 Paula Wiseman; Simon & Schuster

HC $17.99

40  pgs.

Goodreads rating: 4.03

My rating: 4

Endpapers: solid bold green background with intricate last recctangle almost covering the entire page

Illustrations: ah, Patricia Polacco......

1^st line/s:  "Many years ago my father's family lived in a small, poor village a few miles from Limerick in Ireland.  Everyone in the village depended on the textile mill that was soon to close.  Most of the vilagers were unsure of their futures.  But Glen Kerry was their home and all that any of them had ever known."

My comments:  Another lovely family story from Patricia Polacco with many themes and at least one strong moral.  Most of Polacco's stories come from family stories, and within the book itself there is usually some sort of oral story-telling.  This is very strongly of that sort - a piece of the lace that is the second protagonist in the story is framed on the wall in Polacco's home.  This is also a very vibrant immigration story.

Goodreads:  An Irish family stays together with the help of Fiona's talent for making one-of-a-kind lace in this heartwarming immigration story from the New York Times bestselling creator of The Keeping Quilt.

          Many years ago, times were hard in all of Ireland, so when passage to America becomes available, Fiona and her family travel to Chicago. They find work in domestic service to pay back their passage, and at night Fiona turns tangles of thread into a fine, glorious lace. Then when the family is separated, it is the lace that Fiona's parents follow to find her and her sister and bring the family back together. And it is the lace that will always provide Fiona with memories of Ireland and of her mother's words; "In your heart your true home resides, and it will always be with you as long as you remember those you love."
          This generational story from the family of Patricia Polacco's Irish father brims with the same warmth and heart as the classic The Keeping Quilt and The Blessing Cup, which Kirkus Reviews called "deeply affecting" in a starred review, and embraces the comfort of family commitment and togetherness that Patricia Polacco's books are known for.

28. The Weight of Water - Sarah Crossan

Bloomsbury, 2012

213 pgs.

Goodreads rating: 3.90

My rating: 5/Outstanding

For: Middle-school grades

Genre: CRF in verse

Setting: contemporary Coventry, England

1st line/s:    "The wheels on the suitcase break

Before we've even left Gdansk Glowny."

My comments:  Told in verse form (so it didn't take very long to read), this seemingly simple story is thought-provoking and incredibly relevant. It's definitely not simple. What's it like to be an immigrant? Bullies.... Divorce... A mother's incredible sadness that turns into a form of abuse....First love. Wonderful story, beautifully written, and very relevant for kids today.

Goodreads summary:  Armed with a suitcase and an old laundry bag filled with clothes, Kasienka and her mother head for England. Life is lonely for Kasienka. At home her mother's heart is breaking and at school friends are scarce. But when someone special swims into her life, Kasienka learns that there might be more than one way for her to stay afloat." """"The Weight of Water" is a startlingly original piece of fiction; most simply a brilliant coming of age story, it also tackles the alienation experienced by many young immigrants. Moving, unsentimental and utterly page-turning, we meet and share the experiences of a remarkable girl who shows us how quiet courage prevails.

The Matchbox Diary - Paul Fleischman

illustrated by Bagram Ibatoulline
2013, Candlewick

HC (no DC on this library copy?) $16.99 TPPL

40 lovely, thick pages

Goodreads rating: 4.20

My rating: 4

Endpapers: blue - denim-y - streaked with rainwater?

Illustrations:  acrylic gouache: current day in sepia and color; memories from the past in sepia tones only.  The memory illustrations are within an almost-full-page block, while the contemporary scenes go to the page edges - subtly different 

This is a truly beautiful book.  I love Paul Fleischman's words - though there are two places in the story that I felt like he needed to say just a bit more, I pulled at the pages to see if I'd missed any.  He is definitely one of my all-time favorite authors.  The illustrations are particularly lovely.  This book is about how we record memories when we can't read or write.  Great premise.  Good storytelling.  Super book.

Goodreads review:  "Pick whatever you like most. Then I’ll tell you its story." 

When a little girl visits her great-grandfather at his curio-filled home, she chooses an unusual object to learn about: an old cigar box. What she finds inside surprises her: a collection of matchboxes making up her great-grandfather’s diary, harboring objects she can hold in her hand, each one evoking a memory. Together they tell of his journey from Italy to a new country, before he could read and write — the olive pit his mother gave him to suck on when there wasn’t enough food; a bottle cap he saw on his way to the boat; a ticket still retaining the thrill of his first baseball game. With a narrative entirely in dialogue, Paul Fleischman makes immediate the two characters’ foray into the past. With warmth and an uncanny eye for detail, Bagram Ibatoulline gives expressive life to their journey through time — and toward each other.

54. Following Grandfather - Rosemary Wells

illustrated by Christopher Denise
2012, Candlewick Press
HC $14.99
58 pages
not really an Early Reader, more of a read aloud, I think....
Goodreads rating:  3.46
cag:  3.5 (the writing is gorgeous, much of the storyline is exquisite, but the premise of her "seeing" her grandfather a couple of times after his death almost seemed thrown in....some changes here would have made it a 5 for me.....

Setting: mid-20th century Boston
First Line/s:  "Down at the very end of Revere Beach, where the people never go, the mice of Boston spread their towels and plant their beach umbrellas in the sun.  Grandfather and I were among them every summer Sunday."

Ah, the snobbish Henry Cabot Lodge and Saltonstall mice, the Swan boats and other Boston locales, the truly lovely writing....just wonderful.  Yummy vocabulary, some even unknown to me (which isn't saying much, believe me)....ummmm, crenallated?  What a cool word.  However, this is a simple book written in large font, looking like the perfect book for an early reader.  Wrong.  This is one to be read aloud.  I'm going to do just that to my fourth graders and will add comments afterwards.

33. Same Sun Here - Silas House & Neela Vaswani

Candlewick Press, 2011
298 pgs.
for:  Middle Grades
Rating:  Very Good/4

1st Line/s:  "Dear River,  I cannot tell from your name if you are a boy or a girl so I will just write to you like you are a human being."
Setting:  Late 2008 through 2009 NYC and the mountains of Kentucky
OSS:  Meena, an Indian immigrant girl and River, a Kentucky coal miner's son, become penpals and best friends as they share their lives, their problems, and the love of their families with each other.

24. Taken - Robert Crais

#15 in Elvis Cole/Joe Pike series
Audio read by Luke Daniels (He's really good.  My only wish is that sometimes Joe Pike didn't whisper all the time....)
7 unabridged cds
(7:47)
Brilliance Audio, 2011
However, looks like it was published in 2012
$32.99 TPPL
352 pages
Rating:  4.5 Super storytelling

Setting:  some LA, but most of the action takes place in the desert near the Dalton Sea, Indio/ Coachella/Palm Desert/Palm Springs in southern California

Written in an interesting way - the point-of-view switches, as does the time.  It might go from Elvis Cole in the current time to Joe Pike six days later to the kidnapped couple in the time between.  Keep you on your toes.  I didn't think, at first, that I was going to like it but I did.  Elvis Cole's sections are always in the first person, all the rest of the characters aren't, just in descriptive mode.

This time, Cole and Pike are assisted by , a government mercenary who'll try anything and follows orders from Joe Pike really well.  I see him a tall, cute, blonde, always laughing, nothing bothering him.  His hidden military/government credentials seem to be able to get him out of any predicament.....I bet he's going to show up again.

Elvis is hired by Nita Morales, a mom whose college daughter Christa and her boyfriend, Jack Berman,  have mysteriously disappeared.  She is afraid they've eloped, but this is very far from the truth...they've been kidnapped, in the wrong place at the wrong time when a group of coyotes who were transporting people from all over the world across the border are hijacked by really bad guys called bajadores. These are bandits that steal from bandits.   Life has no meaning to them.  They're just plain mean and heartless---I hate the thought that there really are people in the world like this!

Let's Go See Papa! - Lawrence Schimel

Illustrated by Alba Marina Rivera
Groundwood Books, House of Anansi Press, 2009
$18.95
40 pages
Rating:  Liked it a lot
Endpapers: Light Blue
Title page:  Beige with illustration of the house where the little girl lives
Illustrations:  Full page on beige, some go over onto the facing page.  I like the illustrations a lot, looking closely I think they're done with colored pencils.
1st line/s:  "On Sundays I wake up early even though I don't have to go to school./Papa's going to call us.  He phones every Sunday because it's cheaper.  Sunday is my favorite day.
Setting:  A Spanish-speaking country, contemporary.
OSS:  A little girl misses her father who has been working for over a year in the United States while she and her mom live with her abuela and wait for him to come home or send for them.

This is a lovely story, of family, of missing a parent, or how life goes on while waiting for change to come when you know it's coming.  The little girl in the story, who lives in an unnamed country, waits for Sunday to talk briefly with her papa on the phone. She keeps a journal for him, telling him what's happening in their life each day while he's gone. He's in America, and this Sunday, after almost two years, he's telling her she and her mom are going to fly there to live with him.  She has, of course, mixed feelings...she'll be leaving her best friend, her grandmother, and her dog, but she misses her father so badly that she's still happy to go.  The book ends as the mother and daughter are flying away on an airplane over the ocean.

I liked thinking about the immigrants that I see here in Tucson and the family they may have left behind, missing them, working hard to make life easier for them, how often do I think about that?  All most parents want for their kids is a good life!

Carmen Learns English - Judy Cox

Illustrated by Angela Dominguez
Holiday House, 2010
32 pages
Rating: 3.5
Endpapers: Bright dark pink

When Carmen begins kindergarten, she's the only one who speaks Spanish - with no English at all. And she worries about her little sister, Lupita, who will start school next year and knows no English. But Carmen is blessed with a caring teacher. Mrs. Coski doesn't laugh at Carmen, and has her teach her classmates Spanish. When she goes home each day she teaches Lupita the English that she is learning.

Carmen admires her teacher and enjoys teaching her sister and her classmates. A future teacher, for sure!

Put yourself in another's shoes. How difficult it must be fore kids when they can't understand a word. A new kindergarten student at our school knows not a work of English, only Hebrew. She cries and cries and cries. At first I felt badly for her, but then I got irritated to see (and hear) her crying all the time. Her shyness was also hindering her. Shame on me! And now, three months into school, although I still see her crying, it is very much less frequent. To be so young, alone, and not able to understand what's going on around you or be able to communicate even simple needs....well.....

I picked up this book at the library and put it back down. But as I did I flipped through the pages. Its' written in a cool font, "Providence Sans." I changed my mind - because of the font - and checked it out.

Emma's Poem - Linda Glaser

The Voice of the Statue of Liberty
Illustrated by Claire A. Nivola
Houghton Mifflin Books for Children, 2010
$17.00
32 pages
Rating: 4.5
Endpapers: Dark blue with facsimile of "The New Colossus" written in Emma Lazarus's hand.

In simple verse, this book tells the story of affluent Emma Lazarus, raised in NYC in the latter part of the 19th century, a "fervent humanitarian" who helped and cared about the immigrants passing through Ward's Island in New York Harbor.

When France gave American the gift of the Statue of Liberty, Emma wrote her famous poem "The New Colossus" to help pay for the base of the huge memorial. ***NOTE: Apparently, the Statue of Liberty weas never intended as a beacon for new immigrants - it was Emma Lazarus's poem that ignited that particular flame!

The New Colossus

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
"Keep ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

An excellent book with lovely illustrations. For any and all families interested in American history and human kindness.