Dancing Home, by Alma Flor Ada and Gabriel Zubizaarreta (ages 8 - 12)
Many of our students are drawn to realistic fiction because they see a slice of themselves or their friends in the stories they read. A new book I'm looking forward to sharing with students is Dancing Home, by Alma Flor Ada and her son Gabriel Zubizarreta, which tells the story of two cousins, one raised in the U.S. and the other in Mexico, and how their lives begin to intertwine.

Margie works hard to fit into her 5th grade class in California. She loves sitting in the front of her class next to her best friend, Liz. But all that changes the day that Margie has to bring her cousin, Lupe, to school with her. Lupe has just arrived from Mexico to live with Margie's family, and the principal insists that she should join Margie in her 5th grade class. Margie tries to tell her teacher that she doesn't really know much Spanish and won't be able to translate for Lupe, but none of the adults seem to understand. Even though Margie's parents were born in Mexico and speak Spanish at home, Margie has been speaking mainly English since preschool.

Dancing Home follows both Margie (originally Margarita) and Lupe as they come to know each other. Readers are brought into both of their experiences, and will appreciate the author's kind, caring tone throughout the book. I know that many children in our school will relate to the experience of being caught between two cultures, trying to figure out where you belong, what to claim as your own. The character development in this story is heartfelt and genuine; the authors don't shy away from difficult topics of identity and immigration, but they also talk about them from the children's point of view.

Kids will appreciate how hard it is to make changes, to adapt and fit into a new environment, and to figure out your own identity. At times, I wished that the authors showed more of the character's interactions, rather than relying on telling us about their feelings. But I don't think children who enjoy realistic fiction will be bothered by this. The strength of this story is sharing these girls' story, giving us people we care about who are struggling with situations we can relate to.

I have long admired Alma Flor Ada's work, both picture books and chapter books. One of my favorite chapter books to recommend to 3rd graders is: My Name Is Maria Isabel / Me llamo Maria Isabel.

Review ©2011 Mary Ann Scheuer, Great Kid Books.

Rediscovering Heritage

Acclaimed children’s writer Alma Flor Ada and her son Gabriel Zubizaretta have teamed up for the very first time to bring us a compelling chapter book for children dealing with a timely topic— the problem of assimilation from a child’s point of view. In Dancing Home, ten-year-old Margie Ceballos, a talented young California girl wants to get away from her cousin Lupe who has just arrived from Mexico.

When her cousin Lupe comes to live with her family, Margie does not accept her. She is embarrassed by her cousin’s frilly clothes, her inability to speak English, and to make matters worse, Lupe is placed in her class and Margie is put in charge of her. Margie, who doesn’t speak Spanish well, is forced to translate the teacher’s lessons.

This is Margie’s worse nightmare. It has taken her a few years to fit in and now her cousin Lupe, newly arrived from Mexico, reminds everyone at school of her ties to Mexico. Just when Margie thought she’d buried her roots, her classmates again begin to tease her—Margarita! Margarita! Margie’s ambition to hide her Hispanic heritage, by changing her name, to avoid being perceived as different evaporates in one day.

Lupe has allies in Margie’s parents who speak to her in Spanish and reminisce about their childhoods. Because of their upbringing in Mexico, it seems that Margie’s parents have more in common with Lupe than they do with their own daughter who was brought up in America. Margie realizes this and it stings. She feels herself drifting away from the family as they pay increasing attention to Lupe.

Dancing Home is also about an aunt’s love for her niece. Aunt Consuelo, whom Lupe had never met before, comes in like a saving angel and rescues her from the drudgery in Mexico where Lupe is forced to take on adult responsibilities. Lupe is a casualty of the marriage between her parents who have separated and started other families. Consuelo sees Lupe as the only link to her estranged brother and wants to provide a stable home for her. She brings Lupe to America on a student VISA like a foreign exchange student. Providing Lupe with the opportunity of a lifetime—the chance to get an American education.

Although life is much easier in California, Lupe has many obstacles to overcome, including mastering the English language. In Mexico she was a star student but now with the language barrier, she feels frustrated and left out. Lupe feels like Alice in Wonderland, that she’s gone into a topsy turvey world. She misses her family back in Mexico and sometimes becomes nostalgic.

As a new immigrant, Lupe helps the Ceballos family rediscover their forgotten Mexican heritage. It is partially because of Lupe’s influence that Margie lets go of the stereotypes she has about people from Mexico. Lupe’s contribution to the Ceballos family cannot be over estimated. This charismatic ten-year-old has breathed new life into what has become her new family. She causes Margie to review and assess her cultural values. Dancing Home is about what it means to be an American.

In her long and prolific writing career, Alma Flor Ada has published books in many different genres. Dancing Home is heartwarming. It will make a great stocking stuffer for all the children I know this Christmas. My nieces will be proud to put it on their bookshelves alongside other children’s literature of substance like Little Women, Tuck Everlasting, A Little Princess, Little House on the Prairie, Heidi, and Charlotte’s Web. Among Alma Flor Ada’s books for 8 to 12 year old readers, are the award-winning autobiographical books Under the Royal Palms (Pura Belpre Medal) and Where the Flame Trees Bloom. The collection of folktales Tales Our Abuelitas Told (Notable Book for a Global Society) and the picture book The Gold Coin (Christopher Award Medal). Dancing Home is Gabriel Zubizaretta’s debut as a children’s author.

When Margie’s Mexican cousin Lupe comes to live with her family, Margie’s carefully constructed American image is at stake. It’s even worse at home where Margie’s immigrant parents begin speaking more Spanish and forming a special bond with Lupe. But over the school year, Lupe and Margie begin to understand the challenges each cousin endures as well as the beauty of their dual cultures. The book reflects this dichotomy by using both Spanish and English, discussing holidays celebrated in Mexico, and celebrating the arts of Spanish-speaking countries. A poem by Nicaraguan poet Rubén Darío holds special meaning for the girls and is included in both languages. While the deliberate moral messages of acceptance and individuality are expressed didactically, Ada and Zubizarreta tackle important topics including immigration, bilingual education, and bullying. This book will speak intimately to readers straddling different cultures and grappling with what it means to be an American.
-Kasey Garrison, Library Science Doctoral Student, Old Dominion University, Norfolk, Virginia

Bilingualism and biculturalism are central to Dancing Home by Alma Flor Ada and Gabriel M. Zubizarreta, which is being published in both English and Spanish, and tells the story of a fifth grader, Margie, Texas-born, California-reared and determined to be American at all cost. Her assimilation is challenged when her mother, Consuelo, obtains a visa for Lupe, Margie's cousin from Mexico. Lupe also in fifth grade is a math whiz, but she doesn't speak English and everything in her embarrasses Margie, who is less than welcoming.

Lupe is the daughter of Consuelo's brother, an illegal immigrant who has disappeared. Dancing Home doesn't shy from any of the harsher truths about life for Mexican immigrants. Consuelo tells Lupe that her father may be in debt to coyotes who help people cross the border for a great price. His silence may be the result of his living in difficult circumstances.

In the classroom the taunts that Margie fears about immigrants are spoken without hesitation even as Ada and Zubizarreta --who are mother and son-- make clear that Margie's parents came to the United States legally and that Lupe can travel safely with a student visa. But it is the friendship between the girls and the tall, blond Camille (also a secret Latina at large) that makes this an absorbing novel for readers of any background. And the authors, for the most part, handle the narrative with tenderness and charm. As Camille tells Margie: "My father says all the time 'What's important is what you learn after you already think you know everything."

Ten-year-old Margie has spent her entire life trying to fit in—to pass as an American—despite the fact that her parents were born in Mexico. Then, her Mexican cousin Lupe comes to live with them, and her plan goes awry. At first, she resents Lupe for her foreign ways and for monopolizing her parents’ attention; later, she comes to love Lupe as a sister and appreciate the Mexican part of her heritage. Margie begins to master Spanish, enjoys celebrating Navidad, and participates in a Cinco de Mayo folklorico dance at school.

Ada, the author of many multicultural titles, including Tales Our Abuelitas Told: A Hispanic Folktale Collection (2006), and Zubizarreta write knowingly of the difficulties of a life lived in two cultures. A subplot involving Lupe’s father (who came to America illegally and later abandoned his family) is also well handled, as is the inclusion of a Ruben Dario poem, “To Margarita.” Give this to fans of Pam Muñoz Ryan’s Esperanza Rising (2000) and Becoming Naomi Leon (2004).