Letters from Heaven/Cartas del cielo

Gr 4–7—This slim book incorporates many Latino themes in a first-person realistic tale, recounted in English and then in Spanish. Similar to Alma Flor Ada's Love, Amalia (S. & S., 2012), the protagonist, Celeste, moves through a grieving process following the death of her beloved grandmother. She also misses dance lessons and time with her mother, who must now work two jobs to cover their economic situation. Healing begins when the girl receives posthumous letters from Grandma filled with love, advice, and special memories. In spite of quarrels with school friends and a bully who makes her life difficult, Celeste finds solace with the family's network of adult female friends who help her with recipes. Later, she prepares all six dishes for a full-course meal in honor of her Cuban grandmother. This narrative shares ways that U.S. Latino children may experience racism, as well as how they use bilingualism to code switch between languages to share private or public information. The inference about Latin Americans' inherent ability for dance does not seem to fit with the other cultural themes in the book, although Celeste's love for dance and her grandmother's advice propel her to find a creative solution to a problem on her own. Some accent errors are evident in the Spanish text, but do not impede meaning in a significant way.—Ruth Quiroa, National Louis University, IL