Teaching a diverse student population it is important for me to include trade books that feature characters with backgrounds that represent my young readers. Having books in our classroom collection that have main characters that look like them is crucial in helping them to develop a life-long love of reading. Wanting to help motivate readers and noticing that I need to add more diversity to my own collection I turned to this Pura Belpre winner. Is Islandborn a good book to add to my shelves? This picture book's illustrations, characters, style and language shall help me in this decision.
We meet a young girl named Lola whose class has been given a very special assignment by her teacher Ms. Obi. Everyone is to draw a picture of the the country they came from. Lola has no memories of the island she came from because her family left while she was just a baby. By talking with her family and members of the community who do remember her island she is able to learn that the land she came from is full of blanket bats, sleep dancing, mango heads, rainbow people, beach poetry, surfing whales, and storms like wolves.
The style and language Díaz used makes the characters' conversations relatable and engaging. She humorously describing how old people talk to each other by yelling. Curly hair becomes uncurled with fear, and the use of imagery as relatives describe aspects they love most about the island are fitting for Lola's comprehension of the wonderful and terrifying things about her island. Many Spanish words are also used throughout the story which would be familiar to a large percentage of my class.
Espinosa's illustrations are exquisite. The texture of Lola's hair looks soft and thick. The balance of foreground and background elements add layers and dimension to each page. The blanket bats that follow Lola through the streets are a lovely visual representation of what she sees in her imagination. Lola's drawing of the island is so full of colorful details readers will want to pause to take it all in. The students' pictures becoming windows as they are hung up in the classroom by Ms. Obi cleverly echos exactly what the illustrations of Islandborn does for its readers.
Thoughtful illustrations, likable characters, and a well developed writing style are just some of the reasons that make this book good. Other literary elements like pacing, point of view, and the themes of family and home make this a 5 star read. I look forward to sharing this book with future students.
Díaz, J., and Espinosa, L. (2018). Islandborn. Penguin young Readers Group.
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