Realistic Fiction, Cuban-Americans, Immigration, Grief, Loss, Coming of Age
243 pages, Pura Belpre Award
Horn Book Magazine (July/August, 2017)
In this novel based on the author’s childhood, Ruthie is just ten years old in 1966 when she arrives in Queens from Cuba with her little brother and parents. Because she only speaks Spanish, she is placed in the fifth-grade “dumb” class. Over the next eight months Ruthie’s English improves, she becomes the neighborhood hopscotch queen, and she’s ready to move out of the remedial class. Life is looking up, but then everything comes crashing down when she breaks her leg in a car accident, requiring a full-body cast. Immobile in bed for almost a year, Ruthie is dependent on her mother for everything, and as the months pass, feelings of anger, loneliness, and despair fill her heart. When her next-door neighbor introduces her to drawing and painting, her attention refocuses and she begins to heal emotionally. As she attempts to learn how to walk again, Ruthie finds that friends, family, and the ability to look beyond the present into the future can help turn her “brokenness” into wholeness. Through an unflinchingly honest first-person narrative, readers are taken through a traumatic period in the author’s life (an appended note provides more context and encourages readers to “speak up. Tell your story”). Effectively scattered Spanish phrases lend authenticity, while period references evoke the 1960s setting. alma ramos-mcdermott
My Comments
Author's inscription: "For my son Gabriel, who was also wounded and recovered, and for children everywhere who suffer and look for hope." This is a lovely portrayal of Cuban culture and a loving family who have been forced to leave a country that they love due to political upheaval. The aftermath of a terrible car accident only adds to Ruthie's feeling of isolation. I love how she found art as a way to deal with feelings. This is accessible for all readers. Highly recommended for grades 6-8.
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