Islandborn

Title: Islandborn
Author: Juno’s Diaz
Illustrator: Leo Espinosa
Genre: Fiction
The Islandborn is about a school with students from “Faraway places,” In the book the little girl named Lola was described as being from “the island.” All the children in Mrs. Obi’s class knew exactly where they were from and what their country looked liked, except Lola. Lola left her country as a baby and did not remember anything about the island. Mrs. Obi asked the class to draw a picture of the country they were from and bring it in to class the following day, all of the students were ecstatic besides Lola, she was disappointed in herself for not being able to remember where she was from. Lola turned to her friends and family from the island and they were able to share stories and memories with Lola to help her recollect what the island was like. This got Lola’s mind racing with imagination and helped her create the most beautiful masterpiece of the island. Lola realized that although she could not remember the island, it is still apart of who she is and it is the place that connects her and her family and friends.

I would read this book to a third grade class; I think they would comprehend the emigration of the children in the classroom as well as building an imagination from memories. This book showed great examples of imagination, creativity and multicultural classrooms.