Ho Tia Lola Came to (Visit) Stay [Paperback]

A delightfully entertaining story of family and culture from acclaimed author Julia Alvarez.

Moving to Vermont after his parents split, Miguel has plenty to worry about! Tía Lola, his quirky,carismática, and maybe magical aunt makes his life even more unpredictable when she arrives from the Dominican Republic to help out his Mami. Like her stories for adults, Julia Alvarez’s first middle-grade book sparkles with magic as it illuminates a child’s experiences living in two cultures."Like all good stories, this one incorporates a lesson just subtle enough that readers will forget they’re being taught, but in the end will understand themselves, and others, a little better, regardless of thela lengua nativa- the mother tongue.Simple, bella, un regalo permanente: simple and beautiful, a gift that will stay.”–Kirkus ReviewsJulia Alvarezis the award-winning author ofHow the García Girls Lost Their Accents, ¡Yo!, In the Time of the Butterflies, In the Name of Salomé,and a picture book,The Secret Footprints. Her most recent book for young readers is entitledBefore We Were Free. She is a writer-in-residence at Middlebury College. Why can't we just call her Aunt Lola? Miguel asks his mother. Tomorrow their aunt is coming from the Dominican Republic to visit with them in their new home in Vermont. Tonight they are unpacking the last of the kitchen boxes before dinner.

Because she doesn't know any English, his mother explains.

Tia is the word for aunt in Spanish, right, Mami? Juanita asks. When their mother's back is turned, Juanita beams Miguel a know-it-all smile.

Their mother is gazing sadly at a blue bowl she has just unpacked. So you see, Miguel, if you call her Aunt, she won't know you're talking to her.

That's fine, Miguel thinks, I won't have much to say to her except Adios! Goodbye! But he keeps his lãd