An Island Like You: Stories of the Barrio
By Judith Ortiz Cofer
Published by Scholastic Books/Orchard Books
“[Cofer's] contemporary teenage voices are candid, funny, weary, and irreverent in these stories about immigrant kids caught between their Puerto Rican families and the pull and push of the American dream.” —Booklist
“Simultaneously serious, funny, and extremely lyrical, Cofer’s intonation is authentic and her book has real worth.” —Kirkus Reviews
Description
Rita is exiled to Puerto Rico for a summer with her grandparents after her parents catch her with a boy. Luis sits atop a six-foot mountain of hub caps in his father’s junkyard, working off a sentence for breaking and entering. Sandra tries to reconcile her looks to the conventional Latino notion of beauty. And Arturo, different from his macho classmates, fantasizes about escaping his community. They are the teenagers of the barrio — and this is their world.
Reviews & Accolades
An ALA Best Book for Young Adults
A Recipient of the Pura Belpré Award
“…the portrait of the common mentality that emerges–the spiritual tissue that connects a real-life setting, a way of thought, and a voice–is stunningly vivid and deep. And what characterizes this mentality above all else is its irony, which passes unscathed through even the most humbling experiences. Simultaneously serious, funny, and extremely lyrical, Cofer’s intonation is authentic and her book has real worth.” —Kirkus Reviews
“Twelve consistently sparkling, sharp stories recreate the atmosphere of a Puerto Rican barrio…This fine collection may draw special attentions for its depictions of an ethnic group underserved by YA writers, but Cofer’s strong writing [itself] warrants a close look.” —Publisher’s Weekly
“The Caribbean flavor of the tales gives them their color and freshness, but the narratives have universal resonance.” —Horn Book
“[Cofer's] contemporary teenage voices are candid, funny, weary, and irreverent in these stories about immigrant kids caught between their Puerto Rican families and the pull and push of the American dream.” —Booklist
Groups Represented
Puerto Rican
Themes
Family relationships, community, immigration, cultural identity, teenage angst
Setting
New Jersey
Author Research
Like the characters of An Island Like You Judith Ortiz Cofer is Puerto Rican, was raised in Paterson, New Jersey and grew up between two cultures. When writing An Island Like You Ortiz Cofer imagined her characters “as the children and the nephews and nieces” of those in her first novel The Line in the Sun (University of Georgia Press, 1991), which takes place during the first wave of Puerto Rican immigrants in New Jersey. She imagined the events in her new collection taking place in the same neighborhood as the novel, but from the next generation’s perspective. While she drew from universal teenage experiences: falling in love, getting in trouble with parents and rebelling, Ortiz Cofer also wanted to make sure her writing was relevant to current teenagers so she consulted her daughter and teenagers to make sure she “had the idiom right.”
Engagement Projects
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