In an engrossing historical novel, the Newbery Medal-winning author of
Bridge to Terabithia follows a young Cuban teenager as she volunteers
for Fidel Castro's national literacy campaign and travels into the
impoverished countryside to teach others how to read.
When thirteen-year-old Nora tells her parents that she wants to join
Premier Castro's army of young literacy teachers, her mother screeches
to high heaven and her father roars like a lion. Nora has barely been
outside of Havana--why would she throw away her life in a remote shack
with no electricity, sleeping on a hammock in somebody's kitchen? But
Nora is stubborn: didn't her parents teach her to share what she has
with someone in need? Surprisingly, Nora's abuela takes her side, even
as she makes Nora promise to come home if things get too hard. But how
will Nora know for sure when that time has come? Shining light on a
little-known moment in history, Katherine Paterson traces a young teen's
coming-of-age journey from a sheltered life to a singular mission:
teaching fellow Cubans of all ages to read and write while helping with
the work of their daily lives and sharing the dangers posed by
counterrevolutionaries hiding in the hills nearby. Inspired by true
accounts, the novel includes an author's note and a time line of Cuban
history.