I heard Sr. Diaz flogging the book on public radio and got a copy through the library. I find it quite well done but Sr. Espinosa's illustrations carry the day.
It is very NYC, with the protagonist asking family and neighbors about The Island as she came to the city as a baby and doesn't remember it. Everyone remembers some different aspect.
There is only a hint at the downside but Junot Diaz does not give more--"the oldest barber." The assignment from the teacher is for each kid to make a drawing about where their family came from, there apparently being no family long in the USA. This is so different from here on the Coast when DDE was president. Few of the kids in fifth grade were born in California but once, while waiting outside, we all named the military service of our dads in WWII.
It is very NYC, with the protagonist asking family and neighbors about The Island as she came to the city as a baby and doesn't remember it. Everyone remembers some different aspect.
There is only a hint at the downside but Junot Diaz does not give more--"the oldest barber." The assignment from the teacher is for each kid to make a drawing about where their family came from, there apparently being no family long in the USA. This is so different from here on the Coast when DDE was president. Few of the kids in fifth grade were born in California but once, while waiting outside, we all named the military service of our dads in WWII.
