I very much enjoyed The Red Umbrella by Christina Diaz Gonzalez. It was smooth and well plotted, the author having a firm grasp on characters and their emotions.
I want to talk about the issue of freedom as Lucia sees it, and the issue of overlapping genres. At the beginning of the book she is like any other adolescent girl; fighting her mother on everything from makeup to whether or not she has to baby sit her little brother. These are feelings that any young person can relate to, making what happens next all the more compelling.
If we want to talk about genres overlapping, then I would certainly say that this is a prime example of dystopia. Perhaps its not as overt as 1984 or the Declaration, but it is certainly there. Freedom is no longer guaranteed in Lucia's town, and her parents are keenly aware. They make the hard choice to send them away to live in the United States.
To not be able to trust your own family is something that I could not possibly comprehend. That is a reality in the Lucia's Cuba. Parents even have to worry about their own children turning them in to the authorities. The same issue is there in Orwell, and there's not much that can top that in terms of sheer terror.
What I liked was how delicately Gonzalez handled the issues at hand. Hearing the story from the viewpoint of an adolescent, we realize how hard it must have been for all those children to know what was going on during the Cuban revolution. Couple that with the struggle of adjusting to a new life, language, and country, and you've got a winning book. I would certainly incorporate this book into my classroom.
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