Starred Review for Kirkus Reviews (Thu Apr 28 00:00:00 CDT 2022)

A mostly wordless middle-grade graphic novel follows the journey of a Pedro Pan child, one of thousands evacuated from Cuba to the United States during the Cuban revolution.Marisol's story opens with black-and-white photographs of her parents' early lives and then bursts into color. In tidily arranged panels, we see bright homes, delicious food, and beautiful tropical wildlife. Then Fidel Castro seizes power. Food grows scarce, and voices become hushed. When a bomb nearly blows apart Marisol's bedroom window in the middle of the night, her parents make the difficult choice to send her to New York City. While the White couple who take her in are kind, she cannot understand the speech bubbles falling from people's mouths, and her classmates are cruel. Everything is dark, gray, and cold-so unlike her vibrant isla-until she discovers the neighborhood library. She starts learning English, and her foster parents take her to the botanical gardens. The trio cook Cuban dishes and dance in the living room. Slowly, color seeps back into Marisol's world. This beautiful and heartbreaking book bears witness to the experiences of children of the Pedro Pan generation, although not all experienced Marisol's happy ending. Her story will resonate with Cuban children growing up on their abuelos' stories and anyone who has had to leave their home and start over. The wordless narrative is incredibly impactful, underscoring Marisol's alienation and the language barrier she faces.An important and authentic look at the Cuban refugee experience. (author's note, recipe, further reading) (Historical graphic novel. 10-18)

School Library Journal Starred Review (Sat Jan 01 00:00:00 CST 2022)

Gr 5 Up In 1961 Cuba, revolution and violence convince Marisol's parents to make the difficult decision to send their daughter to safety in the United States. Though this wordless graphic novel begins in full, tropical color, when Marisol lands in New York, the only color is in the red flower her father tucked behind her ear; the people and setting are in grayscale, and the speech bubbles are empty or filled with scribbles, representing the English that Marisol cannot yet understand. The two older adults who take Marisol in are kind, but she cannot communicate with them; the first comfort Marisol finds is in a school library book about trees. Her hosts take her to the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, where plants in the greenhouse are rendered in vibrant color. As winter thaws into spring, Marisol's life gains color through library books, plants, and food. Her hosts cook with her (from a Cuban cookbook from the school librarian), build her bookshelves, and buy plants for her room. When she enters seventh grade the following fall, Marisol's world is fully in color, and she has the courage to speak to her classmates in English. Family photos serve as an epilogue; back matter includes a recipe, a list of further reading, and a note about Operation Peter Pan, the 196062 exodus of young Cubans (when Fidel Castro took power, many parents, terrified that their children would be taken from them, sent their kids to the United States). Marisol and her family are Latinx; the older adults who take her in are white. VERDICT This historical graphic novel is an inspiring, empathy-building story, accessible to all readers. Jenny Arch

ALA Booklist (Thu Apr 28 00:00:00 CDT 2022)

When Castro comes to power in Cuba, Marisol's life in Havana turns upside down. Her warm, vibrant island home has become violent and dangerous. Her parents sneak her out of the country in the hope of keeping her safe, and Marisol eventually arrives in New York City, speaking no English, to live with people she doesn't know, who speak no Spanish. As kind as the couple are, they aren't family, and Marisol must learn to cope alone with a new school, bullies, and a winter where it snows and the trees are bare. But slowly, with the help of English lessons, books from the library, and guardians who try very hard to find ways to make Marisol feel at home, color slowly comes back into Marisol's life just as the trees begin to blossom. Almost completely wordless, the book is easy to follow. The illustrations make the story line clear through changing facial expressions, colors, and a clever use of metaphor. An afterword explaining Operation Pedro Pan is included. A different kind of immigrant story uniquely told.

Horn Book (Fri Apr 01 00:00:00 CDT 2022)

In this mostly wordless historical-fiction graphic novel, Marisol lives with her parents in Habana (according to captions using the Spanish spelling), Cuba. Marisol, who loves her island's culture and collecting native flowers, lives a happy and charmed life. Then Fidel Castro comes to power, and everything changes. His regime makes the family feel unsafe, and Marisol's parents send her to New York City as part of Operation Peter Pan. The couple who takes her in does their best to welcome her, but she finds this new place strange, foreign, and colorless; the gray tones of the previously vibrant illustrations reflect Marisol's emotional state. The language barrier is challenging; school, which she used to like, is a constant source of frustration. Once she finds the school library and rekindles her love of botany, she's able to acclimate to her new life. As Marisol begins to feel joy again, color reappears. While there's no dialogue, the illustrations incorporate quite a bit of print into the characters' surroundings -- Spanish in Cuba, English in the States -- which, when coupled with the striking use of color, powerfully depict the disorienting experience of immigration in a way reminiscent of Shaun Tan's The Arrival (rev. 11/07). A recipe ("From Marisol's Kitchen"), reading list, more information about Operation Peter Pan, and an author's note are appended.

Kirkus Reviews (Fri Oct 04 00:00:00 CDT 2024)

A mostly wordless middle-grade graphic novel follows the journey of a Pedro Pan child, one of thousands evacuated from Cuba to the United States during the Cuban revolution.Marisol's story opens with black-and-white photographs of her parents' early lives and then bursts into color. In tidily arranged panels, we see bright homes, delicious food, and beautiful tropical wildlife. Then Fidel Castro seizes power. Food grows scarce, and voices become hushed. When a bomb nearly blows apart Marisol's bedroom window in the middle of the night, her parents make the difficult choice to send her to New York City. While the White couple who take her in are kind, she cannot understand the speech bubbles falling from people's mouths, and her classmates are cruel. Everything is dark, gray, and cold-so unlike her vibrant isla-until she discovers the neighborhood library. She starts learning English, and her foster parents take her to the botanical gardens. The trio cook Cuban dishes and dance in the living room. Slowly, color seeps back into Marisol's world. This beautiful and heartbreaking book bears witness to the experiences of children of the Pedro Pan generation, although not all experienced Marisol's happy ending. Her story will resonate with Cuban children growing up on their abuelos' stories and anyone who has had to leave their home and start over. The wordless narrative is incredibly impactful, underscoring Marisol's alienation and the language barrier she faces.An important and authentic look at the Cuban refugee experience. (author's note, recipe, further reading) (Historical graphic novel. 10-18)

Publishers Weekly (Fri Oct 06 00:00:00 CDT 2023)

In a graphic novel that opens in 1958 Cuba, portrayed in lushly colored tropical scenes, Marisol Alabarce leads a vibrant life with loving parents who encourage her interest in books, food, and plants. Political trouble soon stirs as Fidel Castro assumes power, and when military presence, scarcity, and violence descend, Marisol-s parents fear for her safety. They send her alone to New York via a Catholic relief program, to live in Brooklyn with an elderly couple who read as white. But adjusting is not easy, and Marisol deplanes into a New York City rendered almost entirely in grayscale art, soon navigating school, learning English, and missing her family in Cuba. When she encounters the school library and rediscovers her love for plants-moments that utilize brilliant pinks and greens amid the gray-her world slowly regains color. Employing spare text in the form of signs and radio chatter in Spanish and English, debut