Islandborn

Lola goes to a school where every child comes from somewhere else. When her teacher asks the class to draw the country their families left behind, her classmates set to work eagerly. Lola cannot. She left The Island as a baby and has no memories of it to put on paper.

So she asks the people around her. Her family, neighbors and friends each describe the place in their own way, and what they share is joyful, fantastical, painful and sometimes frightening. Piece by piece, Lola's imagination builds a picture of a home she has never been able to recall, and she travels there page by page, closer to the heart of her family's story.

Along the way she comes to understand what her abuela told her: just because you don't remember a place doesn't mean it's not in you. Junot Díaz, a Pulitzer Prize winner, makes his picture book debut with a lyrical text, paired with vivid illustrations that earned a Pura Belpré Honor for illustration.

Islandborn is a warm story about memory, immigration and belonging. It shows how stories shared across generations can tie a child to her family, her past and herself.