A delightfully entertaining story of family and culture from acclaimed author Julia Alvarez. Moving to Vermont after his parents split, Miguel has plenty to worry about! Tía Lola, his quirky, carismática, and maybe magical aunt makes his life even more unpredictable when she arrives from the Dominican Republic to help out his Mami. Like her stories for adults, Julia Alvarez’s first middle-grade book sparkles with magic as it illuminates a child’s experiences living in two cultures.
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"The kid couldn't wait for me to finish this story. It was heartwarming and funny. I would recommend this book for anyone who has a kid going through a relocation. The kids in the book have moved to Vermont from NYC. It's not just a Latino kid book!"
— Veronica (4 out of 5 stars)
" We loved this audiobook. The storyline is easy to follow and kept my daughters (10 and 8) engaged. I appreciated characters of color that spoke a language other than English. "
— Nicole, 8/31/2017" Global Reading Challenge book for Concord School. "
— Mickey, 2/20/2014" is a really nice book "
— Joseluis, 2/12/2014" this book was fun but i dint like it that much "
— Juan, 1/28/2014" I loved the Spanish in this book! Even though the author does an excellent job of telling what the words mean without just repeating everything in English, the kids are still having a hard time reading it. It's still a great story though! "
— Meg, 1/16/2014" I'm reading this book with my group of 4th and 5th graders. The students are really enjoy the story. They seem to be making a lot of connections, and their relating well to the main character, Miguel. "
— Pamela, 1/15/2014" Very cute! I wish I had an aunt like Tia Lola! "
— Cheryl, 1/15/2014" Read this in Spanish and loved it as much as when I read it three years ago in English! I love Julia Alvarez - so much wisdom and such beautiful storytelling. "
— Marion, 12/4/2013" I read this as part of In2Books program, with my 4th grade epal. It took me 2 weeks to read it because I was trying to to figure out how to gently explain to her why I didn't like it. I haven't had her report yet, but I did send my thoughts to her. I hope she likes it better than I did. "
— Mslib, 12/3/2013" its kinda hard to understand what their saying "
— Arriana, 10/19/2013" This book is a great book to have a whole alots of questions to ask Ms. Necci I say this because it has a mixure of both English and Spanish "
— Amber, 7/7/2013" Was an okay book. I did not like how the book was written in present tense, which is often confusing to me. The novel had a pitiful predictable plot which was not very interesting. "
— Siena, 5/4/2013" Very nice for young children - although adults can enjoy this book as well. "
— Leah, 3/23/2013" Funny. Tia Lola, an Aunty Mame-type character, speaks little English but charms a Vermont town. "
— Barbara, 6/5/2012" Great book to read out loud. "
— Tanya, 5/17/2012" THIS ISZ BOOK IZ MA INTRSTIN ITZSX ABOUT 2 KIDZSX WHO AUNT COME 2 VISIT FROM THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC.BUT.. THERES 1 PROBLEM THEIR AUT DONT SPEAK ENGLISH SOO ITSXZ HARD FOR THEM TO COMUCATE.BUT AFTER A WHILE DEII GET USED 2 IT :-] "
— Shantal, 5/15/2012" Grades 3+. Moving to Vermont after his parents plit, Miguel has plenty to worry about! Tia Lola, his quirky and possibly magical aunt, makes his life even more unpredictable when she arrives from the Dominican Republic to help out his Mami. "
— Catherine, 6/30/2011Julia Alvarez has written several novels for adults and for young readers, including Before We Were Free, winner of the ALA’s Pura Belpré Award. Her acclaimed first novel, How the García Girls Lost Their Accents, won the PEN/Oakland Josephine Miles Award and was named a Notable Book of the Year by the New York Times Book Review and the American Library Association Her second novel, In the Time of the Butterflies, was a finalist for the 1995 National Book Critics Circle Award. She grew up in the Dominican Republic before immigrating to the United States at the age of ten. She is a writer-in-residence at Middlebury College, Vermont.