The Time It Snowed in Puerto Rico

June 29, 2009
McCoy's unaffected, conversational debut sketches a year and a half in the life of Verdita Ortiz-Santiago, a Puerto Rican girl whose fascination with America overshadows her quiet life. The book opens in 1961, with Verdita's 11th birthday party, perhaps her last occasion of guileless joy. An indulged only child, Verdita gets a shock when, a few months later, she learns that her parents are expecting a baby: “I hated it, the baby.... And I despised them for making it.” Her fears that the baby will be a boy force her to confront the deeply patriarchal society in which she lives; she also uses the opportunity, in a more typical fashion, to aim all her anger and confusion at her mother (proud of her growing breasts, she's also ashamed of “becoming more like Mama”). Though McCoy's lyrical writing is absorbing, Verdita's trials are largely unexceptional (including a disastrous attempt to go blonde and taking on more responsibility, especially after the baby's birth), and her parents are underdeveloped, making this coming-of-age story a slight addition to the crowded genre.

June 1, 2009
Verdita is a typical preteen girl with all the emotional turmoil and naive questions that come with her young age. Alas, a small Puerto Rican mountain barrio in the 1960s is her whole world. All she knows of the elusive America that she craves to be a part of she has learned from her limited access to the media and her visiting American cousin. Verdita believes that everything is better in America than in her sleepy, sheltered town. Things begin to change as she grows into womanhood, experiences her first crush, and realizes that her mother's pregnancy will alter her long-standing only-child status. Though she still longs to go to America, she realizes that life may not be so bad in her Puerto Rican home after all. VERDICT This touching coming-of-age debut novel transcends borders and times. Readers will laugh and cry along with Verdita as she navigates a tumultuous adolescence, easily identifying with her problems and struggles. As a result, the novel will appeal to a wide range of readers, and the addition of discussion questions is a plus for book groups. [See Prepub Alert, "LJ" 3/15/09.]Leann Restaino, Girard, OH

Copyright 2009 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

July 1, 2009
Adult/High School-Maria Flores Ortiz-Santiago, known to her family and friends as Verdita, has spent 11 happy years in her peaceful Puerto Rico neighborhood. One night, she witnesses her parents making love, and her world irrevocably changes. She cannot look her mother in the eye after seeing her in such an exposed position. It takes months, a botched bleached-blond hairdo, and her mother's near death in childbirth before Verdita begins to understand her parents' love for one another and for her. The book is ripe with the lush island's landscape, culture, and foods, as well as the political upheaval of the 1960s. Verdita's experience, though, is universal, as she must reconcile both the passion she witnesses and the changes in her own body with a child's perspective of the world. McCoy's intoxicating novel is perfect for multicultural literature classes and best compares with Sandra Cisneros's "The House on Mango Street" (Knopf, 1994) and Julia Alvarez's "How the García Girls Lost Their Accents" (Penguin, 1992)."Sarah Krygier, Fairfield Civic Center Library, CA"

Copyright 2009 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

August 1, 2009
In 1960s Puerto Rico, Maria Flores Verdita Ortiz-Santiago, an only child, is turning 11 years old when she sees her parents in an act she cant fathom. After her parents announce that they are pregnant, Verdita is forced to recognize who she is apart from her parents and figure out her place within the family unit. She also struggles with what it means to be a young woman, how to relate to the opposite sex, and whether it is possible to integrate her fascination with all things American with her Puerto Rican culture. Over the course of two years, Verdita pushes the boundaries of acceptable behavior, experiences the excitement and consequences of the forbidden, and surrenders to the pain of growing up. This is a beautiful, little coming-of-age novel about one girls bittersweet journey of self-discovery. Steeped in Puerto Rican culture and rich in authentic detail, McCoys debut captures the essence of life in Puerto Rico and, without judgment, holds it up for comparison against the American way of life.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2009, American Library Association.)