Silver Meadows Summer

A round of applause for Emma Otheguy. her modern, coming-of-age immigrant story, Silver Meadows Summer, is timely and realistic.

Eleven-year-old Carolina is forced to move from her beloved home in Puerto Rico to her aunt’s house in upstate New York after her father loses his job. She and her cousin Gabriella, a supercilious thirteen-year-old, have difficulty bonding. America proves to be different and challenging, but Carolina meets an eccentric friend at summer camp, and through their time together she starts to regain her identity.

I enjoyed this book and would recommend it to middle school teachers for literature circles, summer reading, or even a class novel. I would also recommend it to any reader who wants a fresh perspective on the emotional transition of immigrating through a child’s eyes.

Otheguy is a wonderful writer. Her use of simple language makes this book a winner for lower reading levels, but there is plenty of room for higher readers to analyze and dig deep. I love Carolina’s self-awareness. She loves Puerto Rico. She knows that she is an artist. She finds it weird that many Americans try to fit in with each other and care so much about what others think. Even her mother falls into this rhythm, hardly ever speaking Spanish so as not to offend anyone, and telling Carolina to behave more like Gabriela, who is half white.

This is a great story with the power to inspire children who struggle with their ethnic identity.