Available:*
Library | Call Number | Status |
|---|---|---|
Searching... Hardwood Creek Library (Forest Lake) | PICTURE BOOK MED | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... Park Grove Library (Cottage Grove) | PICTURE BOOK MED | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... R.H. Stafford Library (Woodbury) | PICTURE BOOK MED | Searching... Unknown |
Bound With These Titles
On Order
Summary
Summary
A little girl pitches in to help her tía save up for a big old car -- and take the whole family to the beach -- in a story told with warmth and sweetness.
Tía Isa wants a car. A shiny green car the same color as the ocean, with wings like a swooping bird. A car to take the whole family to the beach. But saving is hard when everything goes into two piles -- one for here and one for Helping Money, so that family members who live far away might join them someday. While Tía Isa saves, her niece does odd jobs for neighbors so she can add her earnings to the stack. But even with her help, will they ever have enough? Meg Medina's simple, genuine story about keeping in mind those who are far away is written in lovely, lyrical prose and brought to life through Claudio Muñoz's charming characters.
Author Notes
Meg Medina is a Latina author, based in Richmond, Virginia. She is the daughter of Cuban immigrants and grew up in Queens, New York. Her work includes picture books, middle grade, and young adult fiction. Her books include Mango, Abuelo and Me, Tia Isa Wants a Car, Burn Baby Burn, Yaqui Delgado Wants to Kick Ass, and The Girl Who Could Silence the Wind. She won the 2014 Pura Belpré Author Award for Yaqui Delgado Wants to Kick Your Ass. She is the author of Merci Suarez Changes Gears, which won the 2019 John Newbery medal and the 2018 Charlotte Huck honor.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (5)
Publisher's Weekly Review
The strength of family and the importance of pursuing one's dreams are the bedrock of middle-grade author Medina's (Milagros: Girl from Away) lyrical first picture book, drawn from memories of her own family. Tia Isa, with whom the young narrator lives in a city apartment, is saving for a car so they can visit the beach. That desire is inextricably tied to one of the girl's own-to be reunited with her parents, who still live on their native island and receive "helping money" from their family in the U.S. (Medina is commendably subtle about the exact details, letting them unfold naturally.) Emotionally invested in her aunt's goal, the girl finds odd jobs to help save money, and they finally buy a gorgeous 1950s-era convertible with tailfins and plenty of room for the girl's parents-pictured with her at the beach in a triumphant final spread. Munoz's (Jake's Best Thumb) wispy, pastel-hued illustrations exude emotion, from frustration ("...soon is when our family is going to join us here, so I know soon can be a very long time") to sheer exuberance. Ages 3-7. (June) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Horn Book Review
The young narrator lives in America with her Tia Isa and her Tio Andres, trying to save enough money so the rest of the family can join them. But Tia Isa wants something else: she wants a car. A car that is "the same shiny green as the ocean" outside her former island home; a car that has "pointy wings off the back...like the gulls" that flew overhead and stole crabs back home. They look for such a car, only to discover that they don't have enough money -- yet. The narrator incorporates Spanish words naturally, translating them as first-generation English-speaking children do, giving the dialogue an authenticity that is neither laborious nor stilted. "Vamos, Tia, let's go," she says when it's finally time to buy their perfect car -- "ese mismo...the very one." The soft watercolor illustrations mirror rather than extend the text, a real strength for children more fluent in Spanish than English; they can visually follow the narrative told primarily in English but sprinkled with familiar phrases. Beginning readers will also find a satisfying story, with illustrations aiding their reading and the jaunty phrase "Tia Isa wants a car" repeating often enough to provide a respite from attacking new words. Many illustrative details (including the cars) indicate a mid-twentieth-century setting, while others (the library's computer, the TV's remote control) demand a later date. But if the illustrations don't transcend time, the story's themes -- the yearning for family and a precious possession -- do. betty carter (c) Copyright 2011. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Booklist Review
The title is a chanting refrain in this picture book, which tells a timeless immigration story of an extended family coming to America from the viewpoint of a young Latina girl, who shares a room with her aunt, Tia Isa, in a city tenement. Tia Isa wants a car to get to the seashore, which reminds her of the beach she left behind on her island home. She can only save a little money, though, because she is sending financial support back to her faraway family to help bring them to the U.S. Secretly, the young narrator earns cash by getting small jobs in the neighborhood, and, finally, there is enough to buy a huge, old convertible for the whole family to enjoy. Always true to the child's viewpoint, the story shows how hard it is to be separated from loved ones and how long it can take to reunite, and the lively, unframed illustrations in pencil, watercolor, and ink extend the sense of warmth and longing, first in the small room the girl shares with her aunt, then in the climax of everyone rushing into the waves, together at last.--Rochman, Haze. Copyright 2010 Booklist
School Library Journal Review
Gr 1-3-Tia Isa has a dream. She wants a car, a green one like the sea in her homeland. A vehicle that can take her family to different places, maybe to the beach, which is far from their urban dwelling. The problem is that she has no extra money. Tia Isa works at the bakery, she helps support her young niece, who lives in this country, and her family back home, and her brother scoffs at her notions. Isa is determined, however, to save up and to prove her brother wrong. They will have a car soon she tells her niece, the narrator. Obtaining it becomes the child's dream as well. As she goes about her days, she finds that people are ready and willing to pay for her help and her Spanish-language skills. Before long, the two find the perfect sea-foam green car. It has no air-conditioning and a bad radio, but it's just what they need to take everyone to the beach. Done in pencil, ink, and frequently complementary watercolors, this story is a pleasant selection about ambition, resourcefulness, and never letting go of one's dreams.-Roxanne Burg, Orange County Public Library, CA (c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
Ta Isa dreams of buying a big car, green like the ocean that surrounds the island that she, her brother Andrs and their niece left to move to the United States.Since most of their extra money goes to help the family still on the island, Ta Isa and her niece know it will take time. The car will not only get them to the beach but will also be large enough for the rest of the family, once they start moving to the States, too. As the unnamed first-person narrator, the niece starts telling people around the neighborhood about her aunt's dream and begins earning money by helping the produce man at his store, an elderly woman with her kittens and the librarian with her Spanish. Soon, they have enough saved. The car they choose is shiny green with plenty of room for the whole family. The two drive back to their apartment to celebrate the purchase with To Andrs. The last two pages show the young girl, now reunited with her parents, on the beach. Muoz captures all of the action in watercolors accented with ink and pencil. Besides the pleasant story, the interwoven Spanish and references to "Helping Money" and families divided by immigration may make the book particularly appealing to immigrant Latino children.A pleasant tale of determination. (Picture book. 4-8)]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
