My Brigadista Year by Katherine Paterson - ADVISABLE

Paterson, Katherine My Brigadista Year 198 pgs. Candlewick Press, 2017.  Language: G (0 swears, 0 “f”); Mature Content: G; Violence: PG (Peril).  

In 1961 Cuba, Fidel Castro has committed to the UN that his country will be literate by the following year.  But he needs a lot of teachers, so 13-year old Lora has volunteered to be a Brigadista.  This means she moves away from her home in the city to the mountains where she will live with a family, work in the fields with them during the day and teach them to read at night.  There’s some danger involved because there are banditos in the mountains, and they have threatened to kill the brigadistas.  Lora is now a Maestra with students of her own (mostly adults), new friends and new skills - she’s learning to care for animals, wash clothes in the river, farm and do whatever chores her sponsor family needs.  Hopefully they will pass their tests before the year is out.  

This is a wonderful story about literacy and the young people who sacrificed in order to teach others to read. Although it is fiction, there is an author’s note that connects the story to history a map and a very helpful time line.  I would have liked to see some pictures of real brigadistas - will our young readers know this is based on a true story? 

EL, MS - ADVISABLE  Lisa Librarian