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 Lora 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. Lora 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 Lora is stubborn: didn't her parents teach
her to share what she has with someone in need? Surprisingly, Lora's
abuela takes her side, even as she makes Lora promise to come home if
things get too hard. But how will Lora 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 timeline of Cuban history.