Parents' Guide to

Islandborn

By Jan Carr, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 5+

Vibrant memories of Caribbean island celebrate heritage.

Book Junot Díaz Picture Book 2018
Islandborn Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this book.

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age 3+

Based on 1 parent review

fessertin
fessertin Adult
May 30, 2020
age 3+

This title has:

Educational value
Great messages
Great role models
See all 1 parent review

What's the Story?

In ISLANDBORN, Lola goes to a school where every kid is "from somewhere else." Her teacher, Ms. Obi, instructs the kids to "draw a picture of the country you are originally from," but Lola doesn't remember her country of birth since she left when she was a baby. She decides to ask others in her neighborhood who do remember, and they enthusiastically tell her about the music, dancing, mangoes, beaches, heat, hurricanes, and colors. But they also hint at darker memories, and Lola finds out from her super (the superintendent of her building) about a "monster" who terrorized the island until "heroes rose up" and fought and banished him. By the end, Lola has collected so many images that she's able to make a whole book about the island instead of just one picture.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say: (1):
Kids say: Not yet rated

It's not every day that a Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist writes a picture book, and this one vibrantly celebrates diversity by mining the author's own Dominican American experience. In Islandborn, the many shaded brown-skinned kids in Lola's school hail from a whole host of countries, and her New York City neighborhood is full of friends who can tell her about the island home of her birth. Author Junot Díaz makes the decision not to name the Dominican Republic, referring to it simply as "the Island." He also references the brutal dictator Rafael Trujillo who ruled for 30 years, but refers to him obliquely as "the Monster," and the art pictures him as an actual monster, not a man. This might confuse some kids, who might take the word "monster" literally, so parents and teachers can fill in the actual history.

The art by Leo Espinosa is wildly colorful, as befits a book about an island that has "colorful cars, colorful houses, flowers everywhere. Even the people are like a rainbow -- every shade ever made." And it's even more fun that Espinosa's art is incorporated into the pictures Lola herself is painting for her school project. The book celebrates the vibrancy of the Dominican American immigrant community, hinting at the darker forces that prompted people to leave their beloved island home.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about the memories in Islandborn. How do the people in Lola's family and community help her form a picture of the country she was born in? Do your relatives and family friends ever give you information that helps you understand your background and heritage?

  • Who do you think the monster is that Mr. Mir talks about? Do you think it was a person? Why might he refer to a person as a monster? What do you think the monster did? Can you find clues in what Mr. Mir says?

  • Islandborn says "every kid in Lola's school was from somewhere else." Where does your family come from? What about the other kids in your school? Do you ever have school projects where you look into and talk about that?

Book Details

Did we miss something on diversity?

Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.

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