When This World Was New

Having moved from their island homeland to New York, Danilito begins to fear the unknown of his new environment, but after it snows and he and his father spend a special day together, Danilito begins to have good feelings for his family's future in their new country.

Kindergarten-Grade 3-When his family leaves their warm Caribbean island to come to the United States, Danilito is apprehensive. Everything is new-the cold weather, the heavy clothing, the language. But the first morning in his new home brings the wondrous discovery of snow, "millions of white rose petals floating downwards," a magic that turns parked cars into polar bears and silences all sounds. Before Uncle Berto comes to drive Danilito to his new school and Pap to a factory job, father and son make snowballs and footprints together. Although the boy is still frightened, it's "not as much." The language is simple and the imagery is appropriate to the viewpoint of a young child. A few phrases of Spanish are used and translated. The rounded forms and soft colors in the acrylic paintings emphasize the gentle affection of this close-knit family. Mam 's smile, Pap 's anxious pleasure, and Danilito's joy in the snowfall are beautifully portrayed in warm tones. Danilito may worry about the unknown, but he accepts and embraces his new world so that even his greatest fear, falling on ice, becomes one more marvel, as readers see him on the last page ice skating while his smiling parents watch.
Marian Drabkin, Richmond Public Library, CA
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

In his first picture book, Figueredo offers a boy's first-person account of his Spanish-speaking family's arrival in the United States from "an island on an ocean that was warm and far away." After taking two airplanes to reach a large northern city, Danilito and his parents are greeted by Uncle Berto, who drives them to his home. Though the child feels anxious about going to a school where no one speaks his language, a blizzard outside his window fills him with wonder (he describes the sight as "a magic I had never seen before"). The story takes a winding path, but Figueredo succeeds in conveying his young narrator's credible emotions and close rapport with his parents and uncle. Sanchez's (Abuela's Weave) acrylic paintings achieve such softness that they appear to be rendered in pastels. Even when set in the intimidating city, the illustrations in gentle tones of reds and blues create the feeling that the boy's transition to a new life and culture will be a smooth one. Ages 3-10. (May)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Figueredo puts a happy face on the difficult transition of a young boy's emigration to America from his Caribbean island home. Danilito flies with his mother and father to an airport where strangers rush about. The narrator's uncle takes them to a house, described in short, bland sentences. ``We went inside. There was a living room and a kitchen and two bedrooms. All the rooms had furniture.'' A few Spanish phrases are tossed in. The next morning, Danilito faces winter clothing and the prospect of school, daunting prospects until he and his father witness the snowfall. With that, an adjustment that realistically take months appears to take place in a few hours, with the snow facilitating the transformation. The clipped sentences tell rather than show, leaving readers emotionally disengaged from Danilito's plight; fuzzy-edged drawings, full of rounded shapes and soft colors, match the oversimplified, rosy picture of a newcomer's life. (Picture book. 4-8) -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

True to the child's viewpoint, this picture book tells an elemental immigration story that is candid about both the hardship and the hope. Danilito is scared when he leaves his warm Caribbean island home to fly to the U.S. with his parents. He feels like an outsider in the crowded New York City airport ("They didn't speak in Spanish"). Mam is sad; Pap is worried about her. A kind relative is waiting for them, and he helps them settle in a small house ("All the rooms had furniture"). He warns them that they must speak in English and that the winters are long and cold. Danilito worries about starting in a new school where no one knows Spanish. He fumbles with the thick winter clothes. But when he wakes up in the morning, it is snowing; he and Pap leave their footprints in the snow, and everything is new and magical. As in Uri Shulevitz's 1999 Caldecott Honor book, Snow, the child sees a world transformed by the falling snow. Sanchez's tender acrylic illustrations show the child's feelings of fear and wonder as well as the adults' tension. The pictures show what the title says about the sense of discovery in a new home. Hazel Rochman