Fifteen-year-old Milly Kaufman is an average American teenager until Pablo, a new student at her school, inspires her to search for her birth family in his native country.
Although initially embarrassed by his colorful Tia Lola when she comes to Vermont from the Dominican Republic to stay with his mother, his sister, and him after his parents' divorce, ten-year-old Miguel soon learns to love her.
the best gift of all: the legend of la vieja belen
Alvarez, Julia
2009
Vieja Belen, a friendly and generous old woman who tirelessly works for the benefit of others, is surprised to play host to three wise men on their way to visit a king born of poor parents.
In the early 1960s in the Dominican Republic, twelve-year-old Anita learns that her family is involved in the underground movement to end the bloody rule of the dictator, General Trujillo.
Juanita and Miguel's great aunt, T?ia Lola, comes from the Dominican Republic to help take care of them after their parents divorce, and soon she is so involved in their small Vermont community that when her visa expires, the whole town turns out to support her.
Although ten-year-old Miguel is at first embarrassed by his colorful aunt, Tia Lola, when she comes to Vermont from the Dominican Republic to stay with his mother, his sister, and him after his parents' divorce, he learns to love her.
A story based on Dominican folklore, about the ciguapas, a tribe of beautiful underwater people whose feet are attached backwards, with their toes pointing in the direction from which they have come.
