Islandborn

by Junot Díaz, Leo Espinosa (Illustrator)

Overview

From New York Times bestseller and Pulitzer Prize winner Junot Díaz comes a debut picture book about the magic of memory and the infinite power of the imagination.

A 2019 Pura Belpré Honor Book for Illustration
 
Every kid in Lola's school was from somewhere else.
Hers was a school of faraway places.
 
So when Lola's teacher asks the students to draw a picture of where their families immigrated from, all the kids are excited. Except Lola. She can't remember The Island—she left when she was just a baby. But with the help of her family and friends, and their memories—joyous, fantastical, heartbreaking, and frightening—Lola's imagination takes her on an extraordinary journey back to The Island.  As she draws closer to the heart of her family's story, Lola comes to understand the truth of her abuela's words: “Just because you don't remember a place doesn't mean it's not in you.”
 
Gloriously illustrated and lyrically written, Islandborn is a celebration of creativity, diversity, and our imagination's boundless ability to connect us—to our families, to our past and to ourselves.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780735229860
Publisher:	Penguin Young Readers Group
Publication date:	03/13/2018
Pages:	48
Product dimensions:	8.50(w) x 11.20(h) x 0.60(d)
Lexile:	AD600L (what's this?)
Age Range:	5 - 8 Years

About the Author

Junot Díaz was born in the Dominican Republic and raised in New Jersey. He is the author of the critically acclaimed Drown; The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, which won the 2008 Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award; and This Is How You Lose Her, a New York Times bestseller and National Book Award finalist. A graduate of Rutgers University, Díaz is currently the fiction editor at Boston Review and the Rudge and Nancy Allen Professor of Writing at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Leo Espinosa is an award-winning illustrator and designer from Bogotá, Colombia, whose work has been featured in The New Yorker, Wired, Esquire, The New York Times, The Atlantic, and more. Leo's illustrations have been recognized by American Illustration, Communication Arts, Pictoplasma, 3x3, and the Society of Illustrators. Leo lives with his family in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Editorial Reviews

With Espinosa's bright illustrations creating just the right mood, Díaz…celebrates an immigrant community and testifies to the experiences of Dominicans who fled the dictator Rafael Trujillo…

The New York Times Book Review - Maria Russo

★ "With his tenacious, curious heroine and a voice that’s chatty, passionate, wise, and loving, Díaz entices readers to think about a fundamental human question: what does it mean to belong?"–Publishers Weekly, starred review

★ “A sensitive and beautiful story of culture, identity, and belonging—a superb picture book outing for Díaz and one to be shared broadly in a variety of settings.” –School Library Journal, starred review


★ “This important title will be enjoyed by young children and may spark many significant discussions.” –Booklist, starred review

From the Publisher

2018-02-03
A young girl's homework assignment unravels the history and beauty of her homeland.Lola and her classmates are assigned to draw pictures of their respective origin countries. With excitement, the others begin sharing what they will draw: pyramids, a long canal, a mongoose. Lola, concerned, doesn't remember what life was like on the Island, and so she recruits her whole neighborhood. There is Leticia, her cousin; Mrs. Bernard, who sells the crispy empanadas; Leticia's brother Jhonathan, a barber; her mother; her abuela; and their gruff building superintendent. With every description, Lola learns something new: about the Island's large bats, mangoes, colorful people, music and dancing everywhere, the beaches and sea life, and devastating hurricanes. Espinosa's fine, vibrant illustrations dress the story in colorful cacophony and play with texture (hair especially) as Lola conjures images of her homeland. While the story does not identify the Island by name, readers familiar with Díaz's repertoire will instantly identify it as the Dominican Republic, a conclusion that's supported when the super recalls the Monster (Dominican dictator Rafael Trujillo), and sharp-eyed readers should look at the magnets on Lola's refrigerator. Lola, Teresa Mlawer's translation, is just as poignant as the original.Together, Díaz and Espinosa present an imaginative, purposeful narrative about identity and belonging. (Picture book. 5-8)

Kirkus Reviews

Listening to Junot Díaz’s narration is like having a story read to you by your uncle who can do all the best voices. Lola’s class is full of kids from around the world, and her teacher asks them to draw pictures of their first country. But Lola left “The Island” as a baby, and Díaz’s voice reflects her anxiety over not remembering her brief time there. Lola asks her neighbors and family about their former home, and they share memories of lively music, swooping "blanket-sized" bats, and the hurricane their family survived, with sound effects to help listeners imagine the details. One gruff neighbor talks of a “monster” who terrorized The Island and the heroes who fought him, providing an age-appropriate approach to the topics of dictatorships and immigration. E.E.C. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine

MARCH 2018 - AudioFile

Listening to Junot Díaz’s narration is like having a story read to you by your uncle who can do all the best voices. Lola’s class is full of kids from around the world, and her teacher asks them to draw pictures of their first country. But Lola left “The Island” as a baby, and Díaz’s voice reflects her anxiety over not remembering her brief time there. Lola asks her neighbors and family about their former home, and they share memories of lively music, swooping "blanket-sized" bats, and the hurricane their family survived, with sound effects to help listeners imagine the details. One gruff neighbor talks of a “monster” who terrorized The Island and the heroes who fought him, providing an age-appropriate approach to the topics of dictatorships and immigration. E.E.C. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine

MARCH 2018 - AudioFile