by Ann Hazzard and Vivianne Aponte Rivera
Illustrated by Gloria Félix
3 stars
A touching story about a young girl dealing with her father being taken to a detention center.
One day Carmen’s father is arrested and taken away. Her mother explains that he doesn’t have the government papers he needs to stay. Through family and friends, Carmen and her mother find support in their community.
Overall, a nice way to talk to children about immigration, deportation, and family separation. Through Carmen’s classmates, we see a few reasons people may immigrate to another country.
Lovely artwork. Cute and engaging.
I don’t think the mixed messaging about keeping secrets worked very well in the story. Carmen’s mother tells her not to tell anyone what was happening with Papi because she thinks people will judge them. While this resolves fine in the end, I wish it was made more clear that it’s okay to tell people how you feel. I can see not wanting to make Papi’s immigration status know, but telling Carmen not to talk about it at all meant she couldn’t really process her feelings or find support in those around her. This aspect of the story was a little clunky and don’t feel like it fully resolved.
There is good backmatter at the end. It includes vocabulary and definitions for talking about immigration, sample responses to questions children may have, questions to ask children, dos and don’ts for promoting cultural sensitivity, and special considerations for families with mixed immigration statuses.
A good story with great backmatter. Works well for talking about immigration with children, both for children who may have classmates with family members who are undocumented and for children themselves who known someone who is undocumented.