How Tía Lola Came to (Visit) Stay

by Julia Alvarez

Overview

An endearing family story from the international bestselling author of How The Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents and In the Time of the Butterflies

"This twist on a classic story demonstrates that difficult transitions can be eased by new connections. Or a possibly magical aunt." —The New York Times Book Review

Moving to Vermont after his parents split, Miguel has plenty to worry about! Tía Lola, his quirky, carismática, and maybe magical aunt makes his life even more unpredictable when she arrives from the Dominican Republic to help out his Mami. Like her stories for adults, Julia Alvarez’s first middle-grade book sparkles with magic as it illuminates a child’s experiences living in two cultures.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780440418702
Publisher:	Random House Children's Books
Publication date:	08/13/2002
Series:	Tía Lola Stories , #1
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	160
Product dimensions:	5.19(w) x 7.56(h) x 0.34(d)
Lexile:	800L (what's this?)
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

Julia Alvarez is the award-winning author of How the García Girls Lost Their Accents, ¡Yo!, In the Time of the Butterflies, In the Name of Salomé, and a picture book, The Secret Footprints. Her most recent book for young readers is entitled Before We Were Free. She is a writer-in-residence at Middlebury College.

Hometown:

Middlebury, Vermont

Date of Birth:

March 27, 1950

Place of Birth:

New York, New York

Education:

B.A., Middlebury College, 1971; M.F.A., Syracuse University, 1975

Read an Excerpt

"Why can't we just call her Aunt Lola?" Miguel asks his mother. Tomorrow their aunt is coming from the Dominican Republic to visit with them in their new home in Vermont. Tonight they are unpacking the last of the kitchen boxes before dinner.

"Because she doesn't know any English," his mother explains.

"Tia is the word for aunt in Spanish, right, Mami?" Juanita asks. When their mother's back is turned, Juanita beams Miguel a know-it-all smile.

Their mother is gazing sadly at a blue bowl she has just unpacked. "So you see, Miguel, if you call her Aunt, she won't know you're talking to her."

That's fine, Miguel thinks, I won't have much to say to her except "Adios!" Goodbye! But he keeps his mouth shut. He knows why his mother is staring at the blue bowl, and he doesn't want to upset her in the middle of a memory.

"So, please, Miguel," his mother is saying, "just call her Tia Lola. Okay?"

Miguel kind of nods, kind of just jerks his head to get his hair out of his eyes. It can go either way.

It is the last day of January. Four weeks ago, during Christmas break, they moved from New York City into a farmhouse Mami rented from a Realtor by phone. Miguel and Juanita's parents are getting a divorce, and Mami has been hired to be a counselor in a small college in Vermont. Papi is a painter who sets up department store windows at night in the city.

Every morning, instead of walking to school as they used to do in New York City, Miguel and Juanita wait for the school bus by the mailbox. It is still dark when they board and drive down the dirt road, past their neighbor's sheep farm to town. It is again dark when they get home at the end of the day and let themselves into the chilly house. Mami does not like the idea of Miguel and Juanita being alone without an adult, and that in large part is why she has invited Tia Lola to come for a visit.

Why not ask Papi to come up and stay with them instead? Miguel wants to suggest. He doesn't really understand why his parents can't stay married even if they don't get along. After all, he doesn't get along great with his little sister, but his mother always says, "Juanita's your familia, Miguel!" Why can't she say the same thing to herself about Papi? But Miguel doesn't dare suggest this to her. These days, Mami bursts out crying at anything. When they first drove up to the old house with its peeling white paint, Mami's eyes filled with tears.

"It looks haunted," Juanita gasped.

"It looks like a dump," Miguel corrected his little sister. "Even Dracula wouldn't live here." But then, catching a glimpse of his mother's sad face, he added quickly, "So you don't have to worry about ghosts, Nita!"

His mother smiled through her tears, grateful to him for being a good sport.

After some of the boxes have been cleared away, the family sits down to eat dinner. They each get to pick the can they want to bring to the table: Juanita chooses SpaghettiOs, their mother chooses red beans, and Miguel chooses a can of Pringles. "Only this one night, so we can finish getting settled for Tia Lola," their mother explains about their peculiar dinner. Every night, she gets home so late from work, there is little time for unpacking and cooking. Mostly, they have been eating in town at Rudy's Restaurant. The friendly, red-cheeked owner, Rudy, has offered them a special deal.

"Welcome Wagon Special," he calls it. "Three meals for the price of one and you guys teach me some Spanish." But even Miguel is getting tired of pizza and hot dogs with french fries on the side.

"Thanks for a yummy dinner, Mami," Juanita is saying, as if their mother has cooked all the food and put it in cans with labels marked Goya and SpaghettiOs, then just now reheated the food in the microwave. She always sees the bright side of things. "Can I have some of those chips, Miguel?" she asks her brother.

"This is my can," Miguel reminds her.

"But you can share," his mother reminds him. "Pretend we're at the Chinese restaurant and we share all the plates."

"We're not Chinese," Miguel says. "We're Latinos." At his new school, he has told his classmates the same thing. Back in New York, lots of other kids looked like him. Some people even thought he and his best friend, Jose, were brothers. But here in Vermont, his black hair and brown skin stand out. He feels so different from everybody. "Are you Indian?" one kid asks him, impressed. Another asks if his color wears out, like a tan. He hasn't made one friend in three weeks.

"I didn't say to pretend you're Chinese," his mother sighs, "just to pretend that you're at a Chinese restaurant...." She suddenly looks as if she is going to cry.

Miguel shoves his can of chips over to Juanita—anything to avoid his mother bursting into tears again. She is staring down at her bowl as if she had forgotten it was there underneath her food the whole time. From that blue bowl, Miguel's mother and father fed each other spoonfuls of cake the day they got married. There is a picture of that moment in the white album in the box marked albums/attic that their mother says they might unpack sometime later in the distant future maybe.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"Like all good stories, this one incorporates a lesson just subtle enough that readers will forget they’re being taught, but in the end will understand themselves, and others, a little better, regardless of the la lengua nativa - the mother tongue. Simple, bella, un regalo permanente: simple and beautiful, a gift that will stay.”–Kirkus Reviews

Editorial Reviews

★ "The simple music of the narrative will appeal to middle-graders. So will the play with language." —Booklist, Starred

"Like all good stories, this one incorporates a lesson just subtle enough that readers will forget they’re being taught, but in the end will understand themselves, and others, a little better, regardless of the la lengua nativa - the mother tongue. Simple, bella, un regalo permanente: simple and beautiful, a gift that will stay.”–Kirkus Reviews

From the Publisher

Alvarez (The Secret Footprints; How the Garc a Girls Lost Their Accents) creates a story that is alternately affecting and treacly, starring nine-year-old Miguel (who soon turns 10) and his younger sister, Juanita, as they attempt to adjust after their move from New York City to Vermont. T a Lola, their vivacious aunt, comes to visit from the Dominican Republic to help out their newly divorced mother. With her brightly patterned dresses and constantly shifting beauty mark, T a Lola is portrayed as both wise and childlike as she schemes to make everyone jolly. Miguel struggles with his parents' divorce and with schoolmates who can't pronounce his name and assume he will be a standout baseball player because of his roots. T a Lola, as surrogate parent, fixes everything with a "magic" touch that inspires great food, celebrations and gift giving. Alvarez carefully translates Lola's Spanish until near the end when, after first refusing to speak English and then speaking in whole borrowed phrases, she becomes quite adept at the second language. She cleverly names Miguel's baseball team, Charlie's Boys (after the disgruntled landlord, Colonel Charlebois), and then tells a perfectly constructed story in English. As likable as T a Lola is, some readers may have trouble believing her quick transformation. In addition, Miguel's long-distance father appears more involved in the boy's life than his own mother (with whom Miguel lives); the mother's character is never fully developed. Ages 9-12. (Mar.) Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

PW called this story of a nine-year-old boy and his younger sister attempting to adjust after their move from New York City to Vermont in the wake of their parents' divorce "alternately affecting and treacly." Ages 8-12. (Aug.)

Publishers Weekly

Gr 3-6-Miguel and Juanita Guzman and their mother have moved from New York City to rural Vermont, where Mami has taken a position as a college counselor. Left behind is their beloved Papi, a painter whom their mother is divorcing. To ease the transition and to help with baby-sitting, Mami has sent for her aunt from the Dominican Republic. From the moment the children meet her, glamorous T'a Lola creates a delightful whirlwind in their home, from her flamboyant appearance and tropical decorating to her lively music, exotic cooking, and vivid storytelling. Miguel, anxious to make friends and fit in, is both embarrassed and comforted by her warm presence and he half-believes her practice of the Santeria religion gives her magical powers, including the ability to get him on the baseball team. The youngsters' attempt to teach their aunt their language leads to many humorous situations as she interprets idioms literally and uses expressions inappropriately. Accompanying them on a visit to their father, she gets lost but, once found, helps them accept that the divorce will not threaten their parents' love for them. In the end, T'a Lola decides to stay. The story concludes with a Christmas holiday trip to the Dominican Republic where the children meet their mother's family for the first time and begin to accept that home is where love is. Readers will enjoy the funny situations, identify with the developing relationships and conflicting feelings of the characters, and will get a spicy taste of Caribbean culture in the bargain.-Marie Orlando, Suffolk Cooperative Library System, Bellport, NY Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

School Library Journal

Tia Lola has just arrived from the Dominican Republic with her bright dresses and odd habits, and Miguel is not so certain her odd ways are attractive or acceptable. Her habits make him stand out from his Vermont classmates and as hard as Miguel tries, he can't keep her hidden from his new friends. Her odd habits change his life in this moving multicultural story.

A Child Magazine Best Book of 2001 Pick

It's horrible enough that 10-year-old Miguel has to move after his parents divorce -- from New York City to Vermont, where "his black hair and brown skin stand out" and he has yet to make a friend. But now, his flamboyant aunt from the Dominican Republic is coming to visit. How will Miguel ever fit in?

Child Magazine