While running errands with her older brother, Carmela finds a lone dandelion growing in the pavement and at her brother's suggestion, she tries to think of the perfect wish before she blows its white fluff away. - (Baker & Taylor)
The creators of the Newbery Medal- and Caldecott Honor-winning Last Stop on Market Street present the story of a birthday girl who accompanies her big brother while he runs family errands before making a wish on a fluffy, solitary dandelion she finds growing in the pavement. Simultaneous eBook. - (Baker & Taylor)
Carmela, finally old enough to run errands with her brother, tries to think of the perfect wish, while his wish seems to be that she stayed home. - (Baker & Taylor)
An Instant New York Times Bestseller!
In their first collaboration since the Newbery Medal- and Caldecott Honor-winning Last Stop on Market Street, Matt de la Peña and Christian Robinson deliver a poignant and timely new picture book that's sure to be an instant classic.
When Carmela wakes up on her birthday, her wish has already come true--she's finally old enough to join her big brother as he does the family errands. Together, they travel through their neighborhood, past the crowded bus stop, the fenced-off repair shop, and the panadería, until they arrive at the Laundromat, where Carmela finds a lone dandelion growing in the pavement. But before she can blow its white fluff away, her brother tells her she has to make a wish. If only she can think of just the right wish to make . . .
With lyrical, stirring text and stunning, evocative artwork, Matt de la Peña and Christian Robinson have crafted a moving ode to family, to dreamers, and to finding hope in the most unexpected places. - (Penguin Putnam)
Matt de la Peña is the Newbery Medal-winning author of Last Stop on Market Street. He is also the author of Love; A Nation's Hope: The Story of Boxing Legend Joe Louis; and six critically acclaimed young-adult novels. Matt teaches creative writing and visits schools and colleges throughout the country. Matt lives in Brooklyn, NY. You can visit Matt at mattdelapena.com or on Twitter @mattdelapena.
Christian Robinson is a 2016 Caldecott Honoree and also received a Coretta Scott King Illustrator Honor for his art in Last Stop on Market Street. His picture books include the Gaston and Friends series; Leo: A Ghost Story; School's First Day of School; The Smallest Girl in the Smallest Grade; Josephine: The Dazzling Life of Josephine Baker; and many more. You can visit Christian at theartoffun.com or on Instagram @theartoffun. - (Penguin Putnam)
Booklist Reviews
Carmela is excited for birthday pancakes and "jingling and jangling" bracelets as a gift. Best of all, she's now old enough to accompany her brother on her scooter to the laundromat, the bodega, and the locksmith. Carmela's sibling is disgruntled with her company, and he finds her noisy jewelery annoying. When she picks a dandelion that's gone to seed, he impatiently explains she should make a wish before blowing on it: "Everyone knows that." While considering what to wish, the young girl holds her prize securely until there's an accident. Carmela sadly believes she's lost her chance to make things better for her family—her mother is a hotel housekeeper and her father is waiting to get "his papers fixed so he could finally be home." Big brother comes to the rescue by giving her the opportunity for a multitude of wishes. The acrylic paint, collage, and digitalized illustrations offer plenty of color and details to entertain children as even the youngest member of this close-knit Hispanic family does her part to improve their lives. Preschool-Grade 1. Copyright 2018 Booklist Reviews.
Horn Book Guide Reviews
The team behind the award-winning Last Stop on Market Street introduces young Carmela, who's delighted to spend her birthday in town running errands with her older brother. He's irked that she's underfoot but comes through when she encounters an unexpected disappointment. The commanding cut-paper-like art is full of textured brushstrokes--perfect for this look at a community short on gloss but rich in love. Copyright 2019 Horn Book Guide Reviews.
Kirkus Reviews
On her birthday, a young girl accompanies her brother on his errands for the first time and makes a wish, but not exactly in the way she was expecting. When readers meet 7-year-old Carmela, she is scootering past workers in fields, excited to tag along with her older brother on her birthday. It's fun for her, but it's also necessary: Their mother works in housekeeping for a fancy hotel, and their father was a day laborer who is no longer home. As they run errands, Carmela plays the annoying little sister, but when she falls off her scooter and loses a dandelion wish she was counting on, her brother takes her to a place where her wish is carried further than she could have imagined. This second de la Peña-Robinson collaboration after Last Stop on Market Street is no less powerful and beautiful. It touches on immigration, class, and loss without belaboring each. And it's full of rich details, sharp and restrained writing, and acrylic paintings that look textured enough to rise off the page. In one brilliant sequence, Mexican papel picado depicts what Carmela imagines, ending with "her dad getting his papers fixed so he could finally be home" and a cutout of a kneeling father embracing his daughter. It's a bracing page, the best in the book, and just as sublime as the text. It's another near-perfect slice of life from a duo that has found a way to spotlight underrepresented children without forgetting that they are children first. (Picture book. 3-8) Copyright Kirkus 2018 Kirkus/BPI Communications. All rights reserved.
Publishers Weekly Reviews
It's Carmela's birthday, and she's finally old enough to accompany her big brother on his errands. On their way to the laundromat, Carmela finds a puffy white dandelion to blow. De la Peña captures with a fine ear the tone of their sibling dialogue: "Did you even make a wish?" her brother asks scornfully. With delicious inspiration, Robinson renders the wishes Carmela considers as papel picado decorations like those hung for her birthday. She wishes for a candy machine; she wishes her mother could sleep in one of the hotel beds she makes every day; she wishes her father could get his papers fixed "so he could finally be home." Carmela jingles her bracelets: "Why do you have to be so annoying?" her brother snaps. "It's a free country!" she retorts. But when she takes a tumble, crushing her dandelion, his impatience melts—"You okay?"—and they share a magical wish-making moment. The award-winning team behind Last Stop on Market Street portrays Carmela's Spanish-speaking community as a vibrant place of possibility, and Robinson's acrylic-and-cutout spreads introduce readers to street vendors, workers in the fields, and sweeping views of the sea. Sensitively conceived and exuberantly executed, Carmela's story shines. Ages 4–8. Author's and illustrator's agent: Steven Malk, Writers House. (Oct.)
Copyright 2018 Publishers Weekly.
School Library Journal Reviews
PreS-Gr 2—Today is Carmela's birthday, the long-awaited milestone that means she may accompany her brother to town. To Carmela, this is a wonderful adventure despite the mundane nature of the trip—washing clothes at the laundromat. Naturally, her brother would rather go alone, and finds Carmela's enthusiasm exasperating. When she finds a dandelion, he stops her just before she blows the seeds away and tells her that she needs to make a wish first. The simple weed becomes a powerful talisman for the child, and she holds it tightly, helping one-handed with the laundry as she contemplates the perfect wish. Carmela's ideas about what to wish for realistically range from an endless supply of candy to, "Imagining her mom sleeping in one of those fancy hotel beds she spent all day making for fancy guests." And, "Imagining her dad getting his papers fixed so he could finally be home." Each of her dreams is cunningly portrayed as a papel picado flag. Robinson's textural cut paper and paint collages portray a busy neighborhood and make even the most prosaic settings sing with life and beauty. When a stumble causes Carmela to lose her dandelion and all the wishes that it represents, her brother comes to her aid and shows her, and readers, something truly beautiful. The ending is just open-ended enough to satisfy while leaving plenty of room for discussion. VERDICT Carmela's journey of wishing, waiting, and wanting resonates on many levels; an important addition to bookshelves everywhere.—Anna Haase Krueger, Ramsey County Library, MN
Copyright 2018 School Library Journal.
