Complex immigration story, of children sent away to flee the revolution in Cuba. The dreamy quality of the writing and the somewhat loose narrative structure work both for and against the book -- it loses something in that no dates are specified (although there are clues), we never know how old Julian is, the larger picture is telescoped down to personal stories, the trustworthiness of most of the adults remains an ever-shifting map, the bullies cause stress and anguish. On the other hand, it's a compelling depiction of the immediacy of a child's point of view -- none of the details I mention above are things that a child would pay much attention to; they are known things that don't need to be pulled out unless relevant. The story flows from one moment to the next and it all just unfolds. It was an interesting read, but I missed the context, and I love reading for character, which was not necessarily the strength here. ( )

The plot elements come together a little too tidily to be entirely realistic, but I appreciate that the author presents the Cuban revolution in a nuanced way, showing how it was good for some people and not at all good for others. The author also does an excellent job showing the helplessness and longing of the preteen years and how well-meaning adults sometimes miss the mark. From the Build Your Library homeschool curriculum level 6 book list. ( )

Based on the author’s life, this beautifully written novel chronicles a boy’s experiences during the Cuban Revolution and Operation Pedro Pan, when he comes to live in a Miami refugee camp in 1961, hoping for reunion with his parents.

Julian's parents, hoping to protect him from the dangers of the turmoil in Cuba, send him to the United States in 1961 as part of Operation Pedro Pan, not realizing that life in a Miami refugee camp holds its own perils.

This book is based on Operation Pedro Pan which occurred in Cuba during the Communist revolution that brought Fidel Castro to power. 14,000 Cuban children were sent to camps in Florida in the early 60s to escape the forced indoctrination of children. Upper middle class families were most affected as Communist philosophy promoted the idea of redistribution of wealth. All that these families had worked hard for over the years was taken from them by the government.

I would have given this book 4 stars, but it starts out slow. I could see how a kid would give up on the book before they get to the good part. I was also disappointed that there wasn't more discussion about the heartless government antics that destroyed families and executed people who disagreed with the Communist plan. The author did not effectively set up the reason for why families took such a drastic move to save their kids from Communism. For a historical fiction book that does a better job of covering those aspects of the revolution I recommend [b: The Red Umbrella|6768377|The Red Umbrella|Christina Diaz Gonzalez|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1320465726s/6768377.jpg|6967570] by Christina Diaz Gonzalez.

The narrator is Julian, the youngest of three brothers. The author was also the youngest of three brothers and was one of the children who was sent to Florida during Operation Pedro Pan. Most of the story is about Julian's experiences during the months before his mom made it over. It can be separated into two parts. The first part is his time in the camp. It wouldn't have been that bad if it weren't for the bully kid, Caballo, who is given authority by the camp's Director to keep all the kids in line. Ironically, he's a dictator just like Castro. In this part of the story, Julian and his brothers try to fight fire with fire and play all sorts of pranks on Caballo, but they always lose because the Director only believes Caballo.

The second part of the book is about Julian's escape from the camp after his brothers are sent to an orphanage in Colorado. He finds a boy named Tomas, who is fixing up an old boat to travel back to Cuba to rescue 14 people. It's risky, but Tomas decides to let Julian go. Julian has experience with motors, and ends up being instrumental in the rescue.

I enjoyed the book once I got past the boring beginning. There aren't many children's books on this topic so I recommend it, but only kids who REALLY like historical fiction are going to read it. I would recommend it for an assigned reading for a social studies class.

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