90 Miles to Havanna

Flores-Galbis, Enrique. 90 Miles to Havana. 2010. 292p. 492 mins. ISBN 9781624606083 Available as an audiobook from Overdrive.

As the youngest of three brothers, Julian is used to alternatively being bossed around or ignored by his older brothers, Aquilino and Gordo. On New Year's eve, 1959, they and their father find themselves on their fishing boat, attempting to catch a fish for the New Year's meal. Catching a fish represents good luck for the rest of the year. Julian really wants to hold the fishing rod, and his father reluctantly lets him do so. A fish bites, but Julian is unable to reel it in. Gordo gives him a hard time, and even his father is disappointed as the family will not experience good luck this year. How right they all are.

On December 31, 1958, Fidel Castro and his revolutionaries overthrow Batista, the Cuban dictator, and move quickly to implement a socialist regime throughout the island. Things change quickly for Julian's family. Neighbors flee to the United States, and those unable to leave find themselves kicked out of their comfortable middle class houses. Julian's best friends, Angelita and Pedro, leave for Florida. A supporter of the new regime moves in next door and is appointed to enforce rules. As things get progressively worse, Julian's parents make the wrenching decision to send their unaccompanied children to the United States, with the hope of joining them as soon as possible.

Aquilino, Gordo and Julian thus find themselves among other Cuban children in a receiving camp where they await either being rescued by family members or sent to orphanages throughout the United States. The camp is dominated by Caballo, a bully the boys know from Cuba, and he makes the boys' lives miserable. However, Julian is reunited there with Angelita and Pedro, whom he had not seen for close to a year. Gordo antagonizes Caballo further during a baseball game. The two older brothers get shipped out, and for the first time in his life Julian finds himself alone, with no one to make decisions for him.

With Angelita's help, Julian organizes a resistance against Caballo, but when things get out of hand he escapes the camp and connects with Tomas, who's planning a daring sailing to Havana and the rescue of his family members. Hoping to save his mother and father, Julian decides to help Tomas, but even though Cuba is only 90 miles away, this is a dangerous trip on a leaky boat with the real possibility of being captured and arrested by Cuban authorities. Julian is about to make the most important decision of his life ...

Refugee

Gratz, Alan. Refugee. 2017. 338p. ISBN 978-0-545-88083-1. Available at FIC GRA on the library shelves.

Over the history of humanity, conflicts have always created waves of refugees seeking to escape horrific conditions. In the last five years, the plight of refugees has been brought to the forefront of people’s consciousness and it has been featured repeatedly in the news. The Syrian civil war pushed millions of people away from their homes. It is in this climate of fear and destruction that in 2015 Mahmood’s apartment in Aleppo is destroyed by a missile. His parents and younger brother and sister survive, but they must escape the combat zone. Mahmood’s father decide they must risk the trip to Germany and safety. But this will involve crossing many international borders in countries that are hostile to Syrian refugees, and which will include a desperate raft trip from Turkey to Greece.

In 1994, Cuba is experiencing social tensions due to the collapse of the Soviet Union. The subsidized fuel and food it provided the Communist island have now ended, and Fidel Castro’s dictatorship is barely able to hang on. Isabel’s father participated in a demonstration and was arrested and beaten by the security forces, who promised to return and hurt him more. When Castro announces that anyone who wants to leave can, Isabel, her father and heavily pregnant mother secure passage aboard their neighbor’s hastily constructed raft and strike out for Florida. If they can reach land, they will be safe and welcomed by the Americans. If stopped in the waters, they will be returned to Cuba.

In 1939, Josef and his family are persecuted in Germany for being Jewish. His father spent time in Dachau, the infamous concentration camp, and when the opportunity presents itself to book passage aboard a ship for Cuba, the family does not hesitate. Josef’s father is a broken man, however, and the pain and torture he endured have destroyed his spirit. Josef must step up and become the man of the family. Despite sailing away from Germany, the St. Louis’ crew is German, and portraits of Adolf Hitler still adorn the dining rooms and hallways.

As all three teens set out to escape, they will live horrors beyond words, but also encounter friends and forge a determined identity. Though separated by decades, the lives of these refugees intertwines at the end of the novel, demonstrating that actions today can have a powerful impact in the lives of those not yet born.

The Red Umbrella

Gonzalez, Christina Diaz. The Red Umbrella. 2010. 284p. ISBN 0-375-86190-4. Available at FIC GON on the library shelves.

Lucía and her family live in Cuba. Two years ago, Fidel Castro and his revolutionaries seized power, and up to the beginning of 1961 it has had limited impacts on Lucía and her younger brother. Her parents, however, have noticed the change. When soldiers show up in town and begin executing perceived enemies of the state, the Álvarez siblings are witnesses. School is cancelled for the rest of the year, as the government attempts to redefine what a Cuban education should be like. The imposition of communist values on her small town change life for the worse. People are now disappearing and are not being seen again. Neighbors begin to inform on other neighbors. Lucía loses access to her beloved American fashion magazines. Her father, who works at the bank, is under tremendous pressure to conform to new values.

As the situation degrades and oppression increases, Lucía feels the tension. When she stumbles upon the hanging body of the town pharmacist, it is too much. Her illusions are shattered. Her best friend, meanwhile, wholly adopts the communist outlook and is drifting away from Lucía. Her father loses his job at the bank and is arrested for hiding his money in the house’s floor. With all the uncertainty, the family is faced with a stark choice: Remain here and fight the oppression at the risk of their lives, or flee.

Lucía and her brother obtain departure visas and are sent to Nebraska, where they meet the Bakers, their foster parents. As things continue to get worse in Cuba, the children will now have to adapt to a new environment and a new language. At first they hope this exile will only be temporary but as time drags on they realize that their identity is already changing.

A coming-of-age novel coupled with a traumatic forced migration, The Red Umbrella focuses on Lucía’s growth as a person and her resilience in the face of life-changing events. Fans of Lucky Broken Girl, which also deals with Cuban immigrant attempting to adapt to life in a new country.

Lucky Broken Girl

Behar, Ruth. Lucky Broken Girl. 2017. 242p. ISBN 978-0-399-54644-0. Available at FIC BEH on the library shelves.

Recently immigrants from Communist Cuba, the Mizrahi family has escaped the regime with a bare minimum of possessions. Finding themselves living in New York City, the extended family is enjoying freedom but life can be difficult at time. Ruthie’s father works six days a week to put food on the table, while her mother works around the house to ensure that everyone eats well and is clothed properly.

Ten-year-old Ruthie and her brother enjoy their lives in Queens, but she also misses many aspects of Cuba including the food and some of the customs. Living in a cosmopolitan building filled with recent immigrants, Ruthie shares her time with her brother and with friends, including Danielle, from Belgium, and Ravi, from India. First placed in the dumb class at school, she is soon promoted to the smart class once her English gets better.

Unfortunately for her, the Sunday before her move to her new class, the family visits an aunt and uncle on Staten Island in her father’s new car, but a tragic car accident that costs the lives of several teenagers sends her to the hospital with a broken leg. The doctor soon informs her that she will need to spend at least six months in a body cast stretching from her ankles to her chest. She will not be able to seat, move, or even go to the bathroom without help. Her mother now becomes her full-time care giver.

Stuck in bed with nothing to do, Ruthie suddenly has nothing but time on her hands. With a teacher coming to visit every other day, Ruthie soon catches up to her studies and improves her reading skills. But with no chance to experience life outside the four walls of her bedroom, Ruthie’s shrinking world forces her to develop a resilience she did not expect, and she realizes that friends and family are always there for her, even in the worst of times of one’s life.

For another story of Cuban children fleeing their island and integrating into life in the United States, take a look at The Red Umbrella, a story of adaptation in the face of adversity.