“Home for Navidad” is a cute children’s picture book that tells us the story of Rosa, a ten-year-old girl who lives in a small Mexican village with her grandmother, her uncle, and her little brother. When Rosa wakes up at the beginning of the book, it’s still dark outside, but already her abuela is in the garden, beginning her daily chores. Then she comes in the house and begins to grind corn for breakfast, calling out for Rosa to get up.
After breakfast, she goes to the fields with her Uncle Pancho. They pick ripe, yellow ears of corn until it’s time for Rosa to go to school. Pancho once went to California to pick oranges, and when he came home, he had earned enough money to help Abuela buy a house.
Working close by Uncle Pancho, Rosa finally has the chance to ask the question that’s been burning in the back of her mind. She asks when her mother will be coming back home. She’s been gone for three years, living in the United States to earn money to send back home. Uncle Pancho tells Rosa that her mother has been working extra hard and plans to come home for Navidad.
After she reaches school, Rosa settles down to math class. She figures out how much money her mother sends – she worries that if her mother stops working, they won’t have enough to eat, but she’d rather have her mother than the money.
When Rosa gets home, she finds a letter from her mother. Sure enough, she’s planning to come home for Christmas, and that’s only ten weeks away! She’s hurt her back, but her doctor says she can travel. Rosa is so excited. Abuela cautions her not to count her chickens, but Rosa can’t help it.
When Navidad arrives, it’s a day of celebration for the whole village, but no one is happier than Rosa. Her mother did come, and – the most wonderful Christmas gift of all – she’s going to stay.
(This book was published in 2003 by Houghton Mifflin and was illustrated by Santiago Cohen.)
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