The Little House of Hope
by Terry Catasús Jennings (Author) Raúl Colón (Illustrator)
When Esperanza and her family arrive in the United States from Cuba, they rent a little house, una casita. It may be small, but they soon prove that there's room enough to share with a whole community.
It was a little house.
Una casita . . .
It was small.
It smelled like old wet socks. . .
But even though they were far from home,
The family was together.
As Esperanza and her family settle into their new house, they all do their part to make it a home. When other immigrant families need a place to stay, it seems only natural for the family in la casita to help. Together they turn the house into a place where other new immigrants can help one another. Esperanza is always the first to welcome them to la casita. It's a safe place in a new land.
Terry Catasus Jennings first came from Cuba to the U.S. in 1961, when she was twelve years old. With The Little House of Hope, she tells an inspiring, semi-autobiographical story of how immigrants can help each other find their footing in a new country.
A Spanish edition, La Casita de Esperanza, will be released simultaneously.
A Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection
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Publishers Weekly
A casita offers "a safe place, in a new land" in this warmly communal picture book that centers a dwelling's residents over time. When Esperanza and her family move from Cuba to the United States, they look for an affordable house to call home and find la casita, where they're together, safe, and happy, even if the small residence "smelled like old, wet socks" and had "rickety, tattered furniture/ from a church basement." As they settle into a rhythm--Papi painting houses and stocking shelves while Mami works at a laundromat and diner, and everyone pitches in domestically--the family remembers home through food: "cafe con leche with buttered/ toasts" and "beans/ and sofrito/ and plantains." Soon, they open their home to Mami's sister, Conchita, and her baby, who "had no other place to go," and then to a family from Mexico, who had "ridden buses and trucks/ and walked for miles/ in search of a better life." Colón's signature art, which portrays individuals of varying skin tones, and gently revelatory prose by Catasús Jennings create a feeling of refuge in this gently bustling, expansive story about building home in a new place. Ages 4-8. (June)
Copyright 2022 Publishers Weekly, LLC Used with permission.Review quotes
Raúl Colón is the recipient of the 2021 Eric Carle Honor. He is the award-winning illustrator of many picture books, including Draw! an ALA Notable Book and recipient of the International Latino Book Award; Jill Biden's Don't Forget, God Bless Our Troops; Imagine! an ALA Notable Book, a New York Public Library Best Book for Kids, and a Bookpage Best Book; Susanna Reich's José! Born to Dance; and Angela's Christmas by Frank McCourt. Mr. Colón lived in Puerto Rico as a young boy and now resides in New City, New York, with his family.
JUV039250 - Juvenile Fiction | Social Themes | Emigration & Immigration
JUV030040 - Juvenile Fiction | People & Places | Caribbean & Latin America
JUV011030 - Juvenile Fiction | People & Places | United States - Hispanic & Latino
United States
Cuban Americans
Cubans
Immigrant families
