114 //Areli Is a Dreamer / Areli Morales (Author), Luisa Uribe (Illustrator)

Areli Morales(Author), Luisa Uribe(Illustrator)

• Random House

• 2021

When Areli was just a baby, her mama and papa moved from Mexico to New York with her brother, Alex, to make a better life for the family--and when she was in kindergarten, they sent for her, too.

Everything in New York was different. Gone were the Saturdays at Abuela’s house, filled with cousins and sunshine. Instead, things were busy and fast and noisy. Areli’s limited English came out wrong, and schoolmates accused her of being illegal. But with time, America became her home. And she saw it as a land of opportunity, where millions of immigrants who came before her paved their own paths. She knew she would, too. - From Amazon

• the immigrant experience

• The colors in this book were so rich and soft and warm. I loved how there was folk art style flowers woven throughout the illustrations, with other little nods to the culture appearing in things like Alex's luchador poster, little saint icons, and the beautiful cut paper flags. I also liked that the Spanish was not translated in the text, so that the reader has to sit with feeling out of place and not understanding what's happening as Areli did.