This book opens up our eyes to the cultures of the Hispanic people who live in pueblos. Luz is a young girl whose grandfather always cuts wood to light the way for the "shepherds" that come caroling at Christmas time. This year her grandfather is sick. With the help of her family and friend, Reina, they are able to make luminaries to light the way. Reina's father finds this path as he is coming home from being wounded at war.

I like the different cultural things. I came from a multicultural home. My mother is from South America and we ate different things and experienced different customs as we grew up. I especially like the fact that this book covers many different generations and shows how family is valued strongly in other cultures.

For older children in the classroom, we could make our own luminaries, with lots of supervision of course. We could also do more research into speaking Spanish (as some of the books words are in Spanish.) We could expand our vocabulary.