Review by Horn Book Review
A boy in New York City learns his family will be moving to Mexico City, while a girl in Cuidad de Mxico learns her family will be relocating to NYC. Each describes (in English) what he or she will miss about home and expresses anxieties about the move: But what if there is nowhere for me to play in my new city? (Curiously, language differences and potential communication difficulties are never mentioned.) The digitally assembled ink, colored-pencil, watercolor, and gouache illustrations mainly place the boys experiences on one side of the spreads and the girls on the other (or, at times, in split-page panels), allowing readers to appreciate the shared nature of their feelings while acknowledging the differences between (and attractions of) their two home cities. This juxtaposition comes to fruition when the children briefly cross pathsand exchange smilesin a busy airport terminal. De Regils reassuring ode to ones beloved home acknowledges both the flaws and vibrancy of the two places and encourages children to be brave and open-minded about moving; the dual narratives of bilateral north-south movement offer readers a unique perspective and challenge the stereotype of a unidirectional flow of migration. An afterword includes thumbnail sketches of each location in the story, with additional historical and cultural context. Concurrently published in Spanish as Un nuevo hogar. julie hakim azzam July/Aug p.105(c) Copyright 2019. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
