BUYING ADVISORY: EL (K-3) - ADVISABLE
AUDIENCE APPEAL: AVERAGE
Elenita and her family prepare for a hurricane in Puerto Rico. They gather candles and flashlights, shut the windows, and seal the doors. During the storm, her father calms her by singing "Co-qui, co-qui. Oh, how I love thee." and the girl thinks of her beloved frogs that live below the mango tree. The storm takes the roof off their house and branches of the mango tree have broken. The family is wet and scared, but they are alive. The Mango tree is bare, there is no electricity and fallen trees have made the road impassible. The family works together to help clean up after the storm, but the coquies' song is silent. The community gets together to build a garden, but things have changed a lot. School is closed, friends have moved away, everyone is tired. Will they ever recover from the storm?
A beautiful story of resilience - the hurricane was scary and the recovery seemed just scary - it wasn't just about cleaning up, with no electricity or safe roads, the community would have a difficult time getting back to normal. "School is permanently closed" was heartbreaking. Quiles's illustrations are fantastic; there is one illustration in particular with stars and a lamp that was particularly moving. The back matter includes information about Hurricane Maria and also addresses the environmental concern of the plight of the coqui frogs and the loss of the rainforest due to the hurricane.
Lisa Librarian
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