Hilda Eunice Burgos

Both the author and illustrator, who share a Dominican heritage, drew upon their childhood memories to create this book. It features a young girl in New York who resentfully imagines that neighbor children who stay at her apartment when their parents are working get better treatment than she does.

Eventually she takes a walk in their shoes, or more specifically, spends a night herself on the cot in the living room, and finds out the experience wasn’t as great as she thought it would be. After that, she not only feels empathy for her family's temporary guests, but adds her efforts to those of her parents to help the kids staying over feel more safe, secure, and welcome.

In an interview, the author said:

I hope that kids who share something in common with the characters — for example, bilingual, growing up in an apartment in a big city, and/or with parents or guardians who work the night shift — can see themselves and their lives reflected in these pages. Additionally, I would like all readers to see the beauty of a close-knit and helpful community, and the sacrifices that many working parents have to make in order to provide for their families.”

Illustrator Gaby D’Alessandro does an excellent job of adding variation and interest to the art despite the fact that the story takes place just inside one apartment. The pictures are full of detail and adept at showing the emotional changes experienced by the characters

Evaluation: This book has some excellent lessons for readers, as ably delineated by the author in the above quote. Adults may appreciate that this story comes from the same world as the one portrayed in “In the Heights,” the 2021 film co-written by Lin-Manuel Miranda and Quiara Alegría Hudes. That story also takes place in the predominantly Dominican Washington Heights neighborhood of Upper Manhattan in New York City. In the film (and Broadway show on which it was based), every member of the community pursues dreams of a better life with the support of family, friends, and neighbors. In this book for children aged 4 and up, we benefit from a child's eye-view of that community support.… (meer)