Barbara Timberlake Russell

A young girl makes notes of the aspirational dreams of those around her -- a friend who wants to be an actor, her mother who wants to return to her homeland of Costa Rica, etc. Then she goes to sleep with a special volcanic stone from Costa Rica and dreams that she can fly like a bird to meet her grandparents and other family members who still live there.

This is a sweet book for elementary school-age children to enjoy. Ana, her friend, and her mother talk to several people in their neighborhood, getting a highlight of many different kinds of aspirations and goals. Ana's dreaming trip to Costa Rica is evocative and will resonate with anyone missing family living far away.

The painted illustrations work well with this text about dreaming and wishing and working hard.… (meer)

Maggie is a young, stubborn Irish immigrant girl living in New Orleans in the early 1800s. Maggie and her family migrated to Amerikay (America) from Ireland in search of a better life and living conditions. Her father is a street merchant, and her Manman, a dressmaker. Maggie's father wants her to get an education and not have to work in a factory. He believes that Maggie's education is her way out of poverty and a life tool to live a better life than his own. When her infant sibling comes down with what may be yellow fever, Maggie's manman was unable to work, and her father couldn't make enough money to feed his family without manman's income. Maggie found a job but paid her very little, and it was affecting her performance in school. She found help unexpectedly from Nathan, who is the little boy who Maggie's father decided to gift a cornet to one day in the market. Nathan wanted to help out Maggie and was able to land her a job with an older gentleman who needed help from someone who could write, and that person was Maggie. As relationships start developing in the story, you realize that the Irish and Blacks were a lot more alike than they had imagined. Both communities were trying to figure out where they fit into society in the country they call America. This story also did a great job of keeping music as a constant throughout. The author did a great job demonstrating the power of music, and how music has no boundaries, it has no preference over gender, race, and social class. The author made music the hero of this book because music helped all these characters feel free.… (meer)

Maggie and her family had left Ireland to come to New orleans for a better life. She didn't like it at first and didn't understand why they had to come. Her family was very poor and her parents worked very hard so she didn't have to and could have an education. Her sister got sick though and so her mom had to watch the baby instead of work. She was told not to like black people and black people didn't like the irish too much either, but then she met Nathan. Her dad had given Nathan a trumpet so Nathan told her he knew how she could make some money while her mom was out of work. Maggie ended up writing down daddy Clements stories of his life. They bonded over the week and grew very fond of each other. Maggie even went and listened to Nathan play his trumpet. I think this book is great for kids especially for kids that have moved to a new place and didn't like it at first. It shows how innocent kids are because Nathan and Maggie were told not to like each other but that didn't matter after they got to know each other better.… (meer)