(2) 4-6 This welcome historical novel traces a Sephardic Jewish family whose members travel from one country to another with first-person narrators from four generations and spanning centuries. In 1492, Benvenida and her family leave Toledo, Spain, for what is then Constantinople to escape the Spanish Inquisition. In 1923, Reina sneaks out at night and sings for a group of boys against her father's wishes and is sent from Turkey to Cuba for an arranged marriage. In 1961, Alegra teaches literacy as a brigadista but then flees Cuba for Miami with Operation Pedro Pan. And in 2003, Paloma and her family travel back to Toledo and learn what they can about their long-ago family history. The family saga provides glimpses of several moments in world history and gives readers opportunities to spot connections among the generations, sometimes knowing details about the past that the characters can only guess at. (An overly earnest tone in narration and dialogue sometimes detracts from the characters' believability.) A Ladino song and the oud that it is played on add echoes from one section to another. The author's note provides context and personal connections; back matter also includes source notes with accessible explanations.

Reviewer: Shoshana Flax | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2024

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Devon Holzwarth. Estrella's tía Fortuna must leave her casita in Miami's Seaway before it is torn down. She is moving into La Casa de los Viejitos, a facility for seniors. As she and Estrella say goodbye to various elements of the Seaway, Tía Fortuna's attitude is accepting--her home will be a memory, like the home she left in Havana years earlier--though there are hints that she shares some of Estrella's apprehension. Bittersweet though the story is, the overall atmosphere is one of warmth, both in the reassuringly portrayed Casa de los Viejitos as Tía Fortuna settles in and meets her neighbors and in the central Sephardic Jewish family. The dreamy mixed-media illustrations are filled with references to all aspects of Tía Fortuna's background, both in her remembrances and physically among her belongings, with the (somewhat lengthy) text granting particular significance to a mezuzah, a key, and, of course, tasty borekas. An author's note gives more information about Sephardic Jews and Behar's own connection to the story, and a glossary defines the many terms from Spanish, Hebrew, and other languages used within the text. A welcome story about change and aging loved ones, and about Sephardic culture.

Reviewer: Shoshana Flax | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2022

(2) 4-6 In 1938, eleven-year-old Jewish girl Esther is the first of her siblings to emigrate from Poland to Cuba, joining her father, who went three years earlier. Her letters to her sister, kept in a notebook to be shared later, form the narrative of Esther's new life in Cuba. With the help of her skill as a clothing designer, Esther and Papa save money to bring the rest of the family over, as rumors build of the worsening situation for Jews in Europe. The story is in some ways refreshingly optimistic: both Papa and Esther adapt fairly easily to life first in rural Agramonte and then in Havana. Behar creates a welcome portrait of a warm, diverse community--one that supports the family members when they do face local antisemitism, and as a result creates an Anti-Nazi Society. But the novel doesn't paint an overly sunny picture--realistically, adjustment isn't as easy for other members of Esther's family when they arrive (or, in one case, choose not to come). An author's note cites connections to Behar's (Lucky Broken Girl, rev. 7/17) family history and to Karen Hesse's Letters from Rifka (1992).

Reviewer: Shoshana Flax | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2020

(2) 4-6 In this unflinchingly honest novel based on the author's childhood, Ruthie is just ten years old in 1966 when she arrives in Queens from Cuba with her family. After breaking her leg in a car accident, she remains immobile in bed for almost a year. When her neighbor introduces her to drawing and painting, she begins to heal emotionally. Effectively scattered Spanish phrases lend authenticity.

Reviewer: Alma Ramos-McDermott | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2017