Good-bye, Havana! Hola, New York!

Good-bye, Havana! Hola, New York!

Author: Edie Colón

Illustration: Raúl Colón

Genre: Realistic Fiction
Multicultural Book

Grade Level: 1^st to 5^th grade

“En los Estados Unidos tendrás una vida major? You will have a better life in the United States.”

Young Gabrielle wakes up at her home in Cuba. The sun is shining on her and she could hear the ocean. But her parents are nowhere around her. She goes to her grandparents and asks where her parents have gone to. The grandparents tell her that her parents are off to the US and her too one day will go there. Gabrielle does not understand why they moved away from the house. The grandparents tell her about the change that Cuba was going through. They tell her about Fidel Castro and how he is bringing change to Cuba. Her parents think that now is the time to move to the US because they don’t know what restriction Castro will put on Cuba. After a couple of weeks, Gabrielle’s papa comes to take her to the US. At the airport, Gabrielle realizes that she will not be seeing her grandparents for a while. She kisses them goodbye and wonders if she really saw her grandma cry. When she reaches New York, everything is new. She goes to her home but for her, it is just a house and not really a home! It is cold, and everyone is speaking English which she is not used to. She sits alone in her class because no one talks Spanish with her. It takes her months and months to get used to the weather and finally the language. She learns English through singing English songs that are taught by Mrs. Humphrey. She makes friends and gets accustomed to American culture. And after years of staying away from her grandparents. She gets a call that they too will be joining the family in the US forever. This makes Gabrielle happy and a house now she could call her home!

Thoughts:

This was an amazing book. The illustration is really where the readers can see clear emotions out of all the characters. It talks about a hard transition from the perception of a young girl. She does not know what is happening around her because to her it is just another day. But she old enough to understand that something is happening. Things are not supposed to way it has been. It is changing, and she does not have a choice but to get along with it. The transition is hard. I know! I can use this book to teach students that we need to be open-minded because you never know what the other person is going through. This book will also be really good during bilingual class because it is a mixture of English and Spanish. Excellent book!