BUYING ADVISORY: Pre-K, EL (K-3) - ESSENTIAL
AUDIENCE: HIGH
The Heart of Mi Familia is about a young girl who comes from a multicultural family. Her mother is European and has been in the United States for many generations. Her dad moved to the US as a small child from Central America. She talks about the two different cultures between visiting her abuela’s home, and her grandmother’s home. She merges the two cultures in her life to become one beautiful life.
The Heart of Mi Familia is a beautiful celebration of differences in cultures. It talks about the beauty in her one life, even though separately her two different lives are so different. Even in the text, English and Spanish are used interchangeably, bouncing back between the two languages. It would be difficult to understand, except that the author places many context clues making it actually fairly simple to figure out.
At the end of the book, there is a note to the reader (geared towards parents). It is a wonderful explanation that children of different cultures, backgrounds, race, languages, etc. might experience discrimination. It talks about how these differences need to be celebrated and not put down. It urges parents to understand that it is through their example and attitudes that their children will learn to be loving and accepting to those who might not look and speak the same way as themselves. I marked this review as essential, as I feel that the current social and political climate the United States has been going towards has not exactly been the friendliest towards cultural diversity. It is something that parents need to be speaking about more frequently in their homes, and teaching their children the importance of love, compassion, and kindness to others regardless their heritages. This book does an excellent job at helping to open the conversation with love.
Reviewer: AR/SL
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