The Red Umbrella
“Captures the fervor, uncertainty, and fear of the times through Lucía’s first-person perspective and the newspaper headlines that begin each chapter.”
Washington Post
Finalist for the 2014 Grand Canyon Reader Award
A Christian Science Monitor Book of the Year
A Top 10 Indie Next Notable Title
A CCBC Choice (Univ. of WI) Book
A YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults Selection
A Bank Street Best Children's Book of the Year
An American Book Award New Voices Selection
The Red Umbrella is a moving tale of a fourteen-year-old girl’s journey from Cuba to America as part of Operation Pedro Pan—an organized exodus of more than 14,000 unaccompanied children, whose parents sent them away to escape Fidel Castro’s revolution
In 1961, two years after the Communist revolution, Lucía Álvarez still leads a carefree life, dreaming of parties and her first crush. But when the soldiers come to her sleepy Cuban town, everything begins to change. Freedoms are stripped away. Neighbors disappear. And soon, Lucía’s parents make the heart-wrenching decision to send her and her little brother to the United States—on their own.
Suddenly plunked down in Nebraska with well-meaning strangers, Lucía struggles to adapt to a new country, a new language, a new way of life. But what of her old life? Will she ever see her home or her parents again? And if she does, will she still be the same girl?
The Red Umbrella is a touching story of country, culture, family, and the true meaning of home.
Praise