Starred Review ALA Booklist (Sun Jul 01 00:00:00 CDT 2012)

Starred Review When Isabel moves from Mexico to Michigan with her parents and older brother, she leaves behind a beloved aunt, who has been teaching her English. In a series of letters to "Dear Auntie Lupita," Isabel practices her new language as she writes about starting school, playing outside after a surprise snowfall, and helping her mother cook for children's birthday parties. Isabel uses discarded boxes to makes her own cozy "quiet place" of safety and, eventually, creativity. After celebrating her birthday with her family and new friends, Isabel's happiness shines from the letter she writes. A final foldout spread, showing Isabel and her friends enjoying her now not-so-quiet special place, brims with lively details for children to enjoy. Set in the 1950s, the book contains expressive mixed-media artwork that includes many period elements, while the story is timeless in its depiction of a child slowly adjusting to a new home and a new language. The inventive illustrations, including several wordless spreads, define spaces in a creative variety of ways, from a revealing scene showing Isabel within the broader neighborhood to a more intimate view of the child inside her quiet place. A moving, memorable portrayal of one child's immigrant experience.

Starred Review for Kirkus Reviews

As in Stewart and Small's previous The Gardener (1997) and The Journey (2001), letters to a loved one become the vehicle for a girl to explore what she sees, feels and comes to understand upon leaving home for the first time. In this title, a family of four is moving from Mexico to America in 1957. Their poignant, pre-dawn departure starts on the endpapers. Small's imaginative use of color and masterful variation of line combine to focus attention on Isabel's expressive face while developing other characters and creating a convincing period with Formica countertops and big-finned cars. Silent spreads allow readers time to ponder her predicament and imagine their own reactions. As the epistles to Auntie Lupita chronicle Isabel's encounter with snow, feelings about her new teacher and time spent at the children's parties her mother caters, they also indirectly portray a family sensitive to a child's well-being. When Isabel requests the big boxes left over from the parties, her family supports her special sanctuary as needed; decorated with paint, origami and cardboard rainspouts reminiscent of the clay gutters back home, her quiet place turns into a panorama of festivities on her birthday, when a double gatefold reveals many new friends. A warm, gentle portrait of an immigrant's isolation and the ways that creativity and a loving family can offer both a safe haven and a bridge. (Picture book. 4-8)

Horn Book (Mon Apr 01 00:00:00 CDT 2013)

This compelling story records the tough first months of Isabel's life after her family immigrates to America from Mexico. Through letters to her auntie, Isabel describes learning a different language and having new experiences; she also describes how she finds comfort and safety inside the empty boxes she collects and decorates. An intimate immigration story, movingly reinforced by Small's colorful and dynamic illustrations.

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

As in Stewart and Small's previous The Gardener (1997) and The Journey (2001), letters to a loved one become the vehicle for a girl to explore what she sees, feels and comes to understand upon leaving home for the first time. In this title, a family of four is moving from Mexico to America in 1957. Their poignant, pre-dawn departure starts on the endpapers. Small's imaginative use of color and masterful variation of line combine to focus attention on Isabel's expressive face while developing other characters and creating a convincing period with Formica countertops and big-finned cars. Silent spreads allow readers time to ponder her predicament and imagine their own reactions. As the epistles to Auntie Lupita chronicle Isabel's encounter with snow, feelings about her new teacher and time spent at the children's parties her mother caters, they also indirectly portray a family sensitive to a child's well-being. When Isabel requests the big boxes left over from the parties, her family supports her special sanctuary as needed; decorated with paint, origami and cardboard rainspouts reminiscent of the clay gutters back home, her quiet place turns into a panorama of festivities on her birthday, when a double gatefold reveals many new friends. A warm, gentle portrait of an immigrant's isolation and the ways that creativity and a loving family can offer both a safe haven and a bridge. (Picture book. 4-8)

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

This gentle book from the husband-and-wife team behind the Caldecott Honor book The Gardener is aptly titled: Small-s fluid paintings do a splendid job of silent storytelling, just as Stewart-s taut narrative is gracefully subdued. The text consists of 12 letters a girl named Isabel sends to her Auntie Lupita in Mexico after Isabel and her family immigrate to the U.S in 1957. Isabel writes of playing in the snow, learning English, and transforming a refrigerator box into -a quiet place for me and my books.- After the box is ruined in a rainstorm, Isabel, while helping her mother cater children-s birthday parties, collects boxes from gifts and uses them to build an elaborate sanctuary and play space, not seen in its full grandeur until a double-gatefold spread at Isabel-s own birthday celebration. Evidence of Isabel-s family-s growing stability (the ability to purchase a refrigerator, Isabel-s older brother taking college courses) is scattered throughout. Through Isabel, Stewart and Small offer a stirring, backyard-size metaphor for the determination and drive for self-betterment that characterize the immigrant experience. Ages 5-10. Agent: Holly McGhee, Pippin Properties. (Sept.)

School Library Journal (Mon Oct 01 00:00:00 CDT 2012)

K-Gr 3 Set in 1957, this epistolary story is told in 12 letters from a child to her Aunt Lupita. Isabel, her parents, and her older brother emigrate from Mexico to the United States, leaving her aunt behind. From her new home, Isabel writes about her struggle with learning English, starting school, helping her mother bake cakes for children's parties, and building her "quiet place"-a cardboard playhouse where she feels safe. Central to the story, the construction of Isabel's project closely follows her gradual adjustment to her new life. Small gives glimpses at the process throughout the book, starting with very shy Isabel asking for a discarded birthday box and ending with her unveiling her completed project at her birthday party, attended by everyone in the neighborhood. Spread over a double-page foldout, the "quiet place" explodes with color, lavishly decorated with Isabel's art. No longer merely a comfy space, it transforms into a place for connecting with new friends, a symbol for fitting in. Drawn in Small's signature style, the delicate but vibrant illustrations, along with the pithy narrative vignettes, poignantly capture the emotional hardships and triumphs of the immigrant experience. Another gem from this dynamic team. Yelena Alekseyeva-Popova, formerly at Chappaqua Library, NY