Reviewed by Cana Rensberger for TeensReadToo.com
Like any fourteen-year-old, Lucía is thrilled to have school cancelled - even if it means that there are soldiers arriving in her small town in Cuba.
She makes plans to spend time with her best friend, Ivette, to shop and plan for her quinces, but her mamá insists she must stay inside with her little brother, Frankie. Lucía tries to listen to the hushed whispers of her parents behind closed doors. There's talk of a revolution. People are disappearing from their jobs and families are losing their life savings to support Fidel Castro's new regime.
Ivette tries to convince Lucía to join Jovenes Rebeldes, Rebel Youth, the communist youth movement in Cuba. She says Lucía's family is being watched, and it's not until men come to their home and arrest Lucía's papá for being an anti-revolutionary that Lucía realizes just how bad it is. She and Frankie must go to America. Without their mamá and papá. If they are lucky, they will find a nice family to take both of them in.
Once in America, Lucía worries about her parents' safety. Phone calls to Cuba are expensive and infrequent. She longs to return to her homeland, but as the months pass, she finds herself turning fifteen in a strange land, fearful that she may never be able to return to her home and her mamá and papá.
Ms. Gonzalez has written a gripping story of survival and courage in this book based on the Cuban revolution of 1961. The reader will feel for both Lucía and Frankie, as well as the many other children who were forced to leave the security of home and family for a life of freedom. You will want to read THE RED UMBRELLA more than once. It's a book you won't be able to put down, well deserving of the many awards it has already garnered.
Like any fourteen-year-old, Lucía is thrilled to have school cancelled - even if it means that there are soldiers arriving in her small town in Cuba.
She makes plans to spend time with her best friend, Ivette, to shop and plan for her quinces, but her mamá insists she must stay inside with her little brother, Frankie. Lucía tries to listen to the hushed whispers of her parents behind closed doors. There's talk of a revolution. People are disappearing from their jobs and families are losing their life savings to support Fidel Castro's new regime.
Ivette tries to convince Lucía to join Jovenes Rebeldes, Rebel Youth, the communist youth movement in Cuba. She says Lucía's family is being watched, and it's not until men come to their home and arrest Lucía's papá for being an anti-revolutionary that Lucía realizes just how bad it is. She and Frankie must go to America. Without their mamá and papá. If they are lucky, they will find a nice family to take both of them in.
Once in America, Lucía worries about her parents' safety. Phone calls to Cuba are expensive and infrequent. She longs to return to her homeland, but as the months pass, she finds herself turning fifteen in a strange land, fearful that she may never be able to return to her home and her mamá and papá.
Ms. Gonzalez has written a gripping story of survival and courage in this book based on the Cuban revolution of 1961. The reader will feel for both Lucía and Frankie, as well as the many other children who were forced to leave the security of home and family for a life of freedom. You will want to read THE RED UMBRELLA more than once. It's a book you won't be able to put down, well deserving of the many awards it has already garnered.
