Letters from heaven Cartas del cielo

Gr 4-7-This slim book incorporates many Latino themes in a first-person realistic tale, recounted in English and then in Spanish. Similar to Alma Flor Ada's Love, Amalia (S. & S., 2012), the protagonist, Celeste, moves through a grieving process following the death of her beloved grandmother. She also misses dance lessons and time with her mother, who must now work two jobs to cover their economic situation. Healing begins when the girl receives posthumous letters from Grandma filled with love, advice, and special memories. In spite of quarrels with school friends and a bully who makes her life difficult, Celeste finds solace with the family's network of adult female friends who help her with recipes. Later, she prepares all six dishes for a full-course meal in honor of her Cuban grandmother. This narrative shares ways that U.S. Latino children may experience racism, as well as how they use bilingualism to code switch between languages to share private or public information. The inference about Latin Americans' inherent ability for dance does not seem to fit with the other cultural themes in the book, although Celeste's love for dance and her grandmother's advice propel her to find a creative solution to a problem on her own. Some accent errors are evident in the Spanish text, but do not impede meaning in a significant way.-Ruth Quiroa, National Louis University, IL (c) Copyright 2014. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Celeste struggles to process her feelings of sadness following her grandmother's death. A week after her grandmother's death, Celeste receives a package with a letter and a recipe for her special cangrejitos, a type of Cuban croissant. Making them helps her to feel less sad, but how can she explain that she received this package from beyond the grave? Over the days and weeks, the letters keep arriving, each with its own recipe for a traditional Cuban dish, eventually making a complete meal from appetizer to dessert. At the end of each letter, Grandma Rosa asks Celeste to remember her "with loveand flavor!" The letters help Celeste to process her feelings about the loss and to learn to ask for support from her friends and the adults in her life. Eventually, the enigma of the letters is revealed in a way that brings Celeste together with her family and friends in remembrance of her grandmother. This bilingual book presents the entire English narrative first, followed by the Spanish. It is a quick read that balances the pain of loss with mystery and humor. Each recipe that is mentioned in the book is included at the end of the chapter. A tender depiction of a child's acceptance of the death of a beloved grandmother and the cultural importance of traditional foods. (Fiction. 8-12) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.