Waiting for Papá/Esperando a Papá

by Rene Colato Lainez, Anthony Accardo (Illustrator)

Overview

Juvenile Fiction. Latino/Latina Studies. In this heartwarming bilingual picture book about a boy's reunion with his father, readers discover a young character whose vision and tenacity allow him to accomplish a feat that once seemed nearly impossible. Through the character's memories of El Salvador and his classroom experiences, the reader also gains insight into the tense political ramifications of war in a country and how that war impacts its survivors. For Beto and the reader, WAITING FOR PAPA is an educational lesson.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781558854031
Publisher:	Arte Publico Press
Publication date:	11/30/2004
Edition description:	Bilingual Edition: English & Spanish
Pages:	32
Product dimensions:	8.70(w) x 11.00(h) x 0.40(d)
Language:	Spanish
Age Range:	3 - 7 Years

Editorial Reviews

Gr 1-3-When the family's home in El Salvador burned down, five-year-old Beto and his mother moved to the United States. Unfortunately, his father could not get a visa and remained behind. Now, three years later, the boy still misses Pap terribly, and although his mother works with an immigration lawyer, she makes no headway. A class project and a resultant radio broadcast finally open the door to the long-awaited reunion, and Beto's classmates help him raise money to buy his father a very special gift. This rather lengthy story is engaging enough, though too long to read aloud easily and burdened with a "too good to be true" sensibility. Accardo's pen-and-ink and watercolor illustrations are reminiscent of Disney's cartoons-think Aladdin at grade school-but they have child appeal in a slick, commercial way. Similar in tone and subject matter to Tito Campos's The Muffler Man/El hombre mofle (Pinata, 2001), this title offers a sound introduction to the many issues surrounding immigration and its impact on families. Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

School Library Journal

For three years eight-year-old Beto and his mother, Salvadoran refugees, have been in the US, where his grandfather already lived. But Beto's papa has been unable to get a visa, and the boy is adept at expressing his longing for his father as Father's Day approaches. The letter he writes for his class at school is so vivid that a radio personality has him read it on the air, and his eagerness to collect aluminum cans to raise money to buy his father a new pair of work boots soon involves the rest of his classmates. As exciting as these events are, nothing can approach Beto's joy when his father is finally able to enter the country. Accardo's illustrations are full-page, clean-lined, and pastel-toned, with faces reminiscent of Trina Schart Hyman's work on a larger scale. They face the appropriate text, rendered completely in both English and Spanish. La'nez's child-centered words make the concept of refugees more approachable and sympathetic, but Beto's love for his father goes beyond the specificity of the situation, making the story universally endearing. (Picture book. 4-7)

Kirkus Reviews