THE RED UMBRELLA

This is the story of Lucia Alvarez a teenage girl and her little brother Frankie that lived in Cuba when Fidel Castro came to power in 1960. Lucia wants to be an average teenage girl, hanging out with her friends, reading the latest fashion magazines, dreaming about her crush Manuel, and planning her up-coming quinceañera with her best friend Ivette. When soldiers from Castro’s Revolution arrive in Lucia’s small town her life begins to turn upside down. After her dad gets arrested, she realizes that the Cuba she loves is changing. Family and friends become enemies. Lucia and her best friend Ivette grow apart after Ivette joins the “Jovenes Rebeldes” a communist youth movement in Cuba. Since her parents are not in favor of the new regime and fearing that their children were taken away from them, they finally make the heartbreaking decision to send Lucia and her younger brother to the United States… alone. Operation Pedro Pan, an organized exodus of 14,000 children was in effect in Miami between the 1960 and 1962. Many Cuban parents who were against the communist regime, sent their children alone to the U.S. to escape the revolution.

Parents should advise their children to read this book, so they can appreciate the freedom that we all enjoy. Beautifully written by Christina Diaz Gonzalez. Grades 4-6.