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Cinnamon Girl

Letters Found Inside a Cereal Box

ebook
1 of 1 copy available
1 of 1 copy available

From U.S. Poet Laureate Juan Felipe Herrera comes the story of one teen's emotional journey in the days after 9/11, and a personal look at the culture of Loisaida, the Lower East Side of Manhattan. This emotional and stirring novel won the Américas Award and is written in a unique and arresting style.

When the Twin Towers fell, New York City was blanketed by dust. On the Lower East Side, Yolanda, the cinnamon girl, makes her manda, her promise. She vows to gather as much of the dust as she can. Maybe if she can return it to Ground Zero, she can comfort all the voices. Maybe that will help Uncle DJ open his eyes again. As tragedies from her past mix in the air of an unthinkable present, Yolanda searches for hope. Maybe it's buried somewhere in the silvery dust of Alphabet City.

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    • Publisher's Weekly

      September 12, 2005
      Both fiercely imagistic and stylistically uneven, Herrera's (Laughing Out Loud, I Fly
      ) intriguing book opens not long after 9/11 in a hospital where 13-year-old Yolanda's uncle is gravely ill. "All of a sudden, bam! Like the crushed/ tower, my throat gets fiery, then empty/ in the hospital room—uncle DJ!" Some readers may find the text tough going. Puerto Rican phrases heavily spice the narrative (a four-page glossary is included), and the book's complicated structure and gradually revealed plot can be difficult to decipher. Yolanda's first-person narrative unspools through letters exchanged between the girl and her uncle (saved in a cereal box), and through her own piercing verse. This framework allows Herrara to capitalize on Yolanda's raw emotions, but at times makes the narrative awkward (e.g., as when she describes a brutal beating she receives from a peer). Yolanda carries many burdens, including mourning a friend's needless death, feelings of abandonment by another friend, fears for her uncle and wonders how she can fulfill her promise to him to "save the dustvoices" of those who perished in the towers. The calamities seem never-ending as Yolanda leaves the safety of her family and hallucinates on drugs. In a poignant scene, however, she finds her way back through her mother's perspicacious intervention. The book is so unrelentingly bleak that a surprise upbeat twist may strain readers' credibility. Still, the strong imagery and the underlying bond between Yolanda and her uncle make this an impressive effort. Ages 14-up.

    • School Library Journal

      February 1, 2017

      Gr 9 Up-Originally published in 2005, this Americas Award winner was recently reissued for the 9/11 anniversary. A contemplative novel in verse by the 2015-16 U.S. Poet Laureate, the work follows Yolanda, a Puerto Rican young woman, in the aftermath of the attack on the Twin Towers. Through letters and poems, readers experience Yolanda's loss. Her family's strength amid tragedy will touch readers.

      Copyright 2017 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

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Languages

  • English

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