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Isla to Island

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Isla to Island
By Alexis Castellanos
Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2022. Graphic Novel.

In this mostly wordless picture book based on true events, a young girl named Marisol lives with her parents in Cuba during the early 60s.  Marisol's life is colorful, happy, and filled with the books she so loves.  Sadly, Marisol's family's happiness is threatened when Fidel Castro comes into power and Cuba is in unrest.  Marisol's parents, fearing for Marisol's safety, send her to New York to live and hopefully be safe until they can be reunited.  New York is so different from Cuba--here everything seems lonely, drab, and grey, and although the older couple who take Marisol in are kind, Marisol can't understand them.  School is even worse.  There she's bullied, lonely, and confused.  Only when she discovered the library at school does color start to come back into her life.  

This book proves that you don't need dialogue and lots of verbal imagery or background to learn to love characters and become fully invested in their story.  Marisol was so loveable and relatable.  The stark contrast between the colorful images of her life in Cuba with her parents and the colorless imagery once she makes it to New York really portray how alone and sad Marisol feels being away from home and family.  I loved Marisol's connection to books and how discovering them in New York made her feel more at home there.  A wonderful story that builds empathy towards the immigrant experience and helps the reader walk in someone else's shoes. Highly recommend.

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