Carmela Full of Wishes
by Matt de la Peña
A dandelion wish and everything it holds.
For you if
you have a kid who sees what's missing and needs a story that sees it too.
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$19 MSRP · Hardcover
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Carmela is finally old enough to join her older brother on errands — and this is the picture book that makes the world of a migrant family feel whole instead of broken. When she finds a dandelion growing from the laundromat pavement, she has to choose what to wish for; that wish, held but not spoken, carries everything her family cannot say about her father, about who's missing, about what home means when the ground keeps shifting. Matt de la Pena and Christian Robinson made Last Stop on Market Street the story of a kid learning to see what's there instead of what's missing — this one does the same thing with higher stakes and more love. Dedicated to dreamers, and to finding hope in the most unexpected places.
Where This Book Lives
- Topics
- u.s. immigration policy
The father in this story isn't in it — and de la Pena never explains why. The dandelion wish Carmela makes (or can't decide how to make) does the work instead. This is the rare picture book that gives small children language for the specific grief of a family separated not by death but by a system. If you're looking for a way into this conversation with your kid, this is it.
Same pattern, different era
Different time, different place. The same thing keeps happening.
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For the grown-up bookshelf
Same idea, written for a grown-up. Good for the adult in the room, too.
In the Country
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Nine Filipinos. Nine countries. One diaspora holding them together.
✦ READ – REFLECT → RESIST
I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter
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Her perfect sister died. Now Julia has to be the good one.
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Children of the Land
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He grew up undocumented. His parents were deported. He stayed.
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Solito
Javier Zamora
Nine years old. Alone. He made it.
✦ READ – REFLECT → RESIST