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| Carmela Full of Wishes |
It’s Carmela’s birthday! Already it’s a great day when she wakes up because she's finally old enough to accompany her big brother on his errands. The two head out into their busy, Hispanic neighbourhood, past street vendors, the Elote Lady, the 99 cent store, and graffiti on the walls. Along the way, Carmela finds a dandelion, and her imaginative mind goes wild with the endless wishes she could make by blowing on it. As the two siblings go out scootering, it’s fun for Carmela, but it’s not a choice they have as their mother works in housekeeping for a fancy hotel, and their father is a day laborer who is no longer home. Carmela soon becomes worried that she’ll make the wrong wish on her dandelion puff, but her brother ultimately shows her that when one dream gets crushed, there is always hope.
Illustrator Robinson portrays the wishes Carmela considers as papel picado decorations, like those hung for her birthday. Her wishes include a candy machine, her mother being able to sleep in one of the hotel beds she makes every day, and her father getting his papers fixed so he could come home. This is the second de la Peña–Robinson collaboration after Last Stop on Market Street and it is just as tremendous and important. It touches on immigration, class, and loss without dwelling on them. Carmela’s Spanish-speaking community is most certainly portrayed as a vibrant place of possibility, as Robinson’s acrylic painted collage cutouts show street vendors, workers in the fields, and sweeping views of the sea. Skillfully designed and developed, Carmela’s story radiates.
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