Alma Flor Ada

Where the Flame Trees Bloom
Allá donde florecen los framboyanes

Book Descrip­tion

These true sto­ries from Alma Flor Ada’s child­hood are filled with fam­ily love and val­ues. Told through the eyes of a child, a whole world comes to life for the reader: the blind great-grandmother who never went to school but whose wis­dom and gen­eros­ity over­flowed to those around her; the hired hand Samoné whose love for music over­came all dif­fi­cul­ties; her grand­fa­ther Modesto, who placed a higher value on human rela­tion­ships than on his pos­ses­sions. Eleven remark­able sto­ries will move and inspire chil­dren and adults alike.

Reviews

School Library Journal

Grade 3–6: Those who won­der what “fam­ily val­ues” really are may pos­si­bly find the answer in this slim vol­ume of short sto­ries. Telling of her child­hood in Cuba, Ada begins with an intro­duc­tion to her home­land fol­lowed by 11 episodes about her fam­ily and her com­mu­nity. One story tells of her grand­fa­ther Modesto’s courage and loy­alty in the face of the death of his beloved wife and the simul­ta­ne­ous col­lapse of the Cuban econ­omy. Another tells of her great-grandmother Mina, who con­tin­ued to make rag dolls for the vil­lage chil­dren even after she had lost her sight. And a third tale tells of a Japan­ese street ven­dor who sold ice cream for a liv­ing, but gave gen­er­ous sam­ples to chil­dren who could not afford to pay. Warmth and love for a trea­sured child­hood exude from the pages. The writ­ing is ele­gant, but not overly sweet. Each selec­tion stands well on its own. Chil­dren can read this book inde­pen­dently or enjoy lis­ten­ing to it read aloud. –Mar­i­lyn Long Gra­ham, Lee County Library Sys­tem, Fort Myers, FL, Copy­right 1995 Reed Busi­ness Infor­ma­tion, Inc.