Waiting for Papa/Esperando a Papa. This item is unavailable.Waiting for Papa/Esperando a Papa

As Beto looks at the eight candles on his birthday cake, he knows that his wish is always the same. Beto wishes that he could be with his father every chance he gets. It has been three years since he and Mama left El Salvador. Lurking in his mind are the memories of the losses they suffered before leaving: the bombing of a factory, the burning of the family home, the loss of all their possessions, but most of all, he thinks of the father that he has left behind. In the United States, Mama has found a job in a sewing factory making jeans, and they are trying to bring Papa to the United States with the help of an immigration lawyer. But this is only the beginning, and for Beto, it seems that his father cannot come fast enough. One day in school, Beto is given the opportunity to write his father a letter. When he is invited to read it on Radio Voz del Immigrante, his heartfelt homage to home spurs a surprising chain of events, that even the imaginative Beto could not have expected. In this book, readers discover a young character whose vision and tenacity allow him to accomplish a feat that once seemed nearly impossible. Through the character's memories of El Salvador and his classroom experiences, the reader also gains insight into the tense political ramifications of war in a country and how that war impacts its survivors. For Beto and the reader, Waiting for Papa/ Esperando a Papa is an educational lesson.

RENE COLATO LAINEZ was born in El Salvador but moved to the United States in 1985. A writer since early childhood, Colato Lainez pursued a Bachelors degree in Liberal Studies from California State University at Northridge. He has taken writing courses at the Institute of Children's Literature, Highlights Foundation, and UCLA, and he has studied with acclaimed children's authors, Alma Flor Ada and F. Isabel Campoy. Currently, he is getting his Master's Degree in Writing for Children and Young Adults at Vermont College. He has been a bilingual elementary teacher for twelve years. He resides in Arleta, California. Waiting for Papa / Esperando a Papa is his first book for children.