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Emily Goldberg Learns to Salsa

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Emily Goldberg Learns to Salsa

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Overview

Emily is a Jewish girl from the suburbs of New York. Her mother has family in Puerto Rico, but Emily has never had contact with them—ever. Then Emily’s grandmother dies and Emily is forced to go to the Caribbean for her funeral. Buttoned-up Emily wants nothing to do with her big, noisy Puerto Rican family, until a special person shows her that one dance can change the beat of your heart.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781440678578
Publisher:	Penguin Young Readers Group
Publication date:	11/08/2007
Sold by:	Penguin Group
Format:	eBook
Pages:	288
File size:	203 KB
Age Range:	12 Years

About the Author

Micol Ostow has been publishing works for young readers of all ages for over a decade. EMILY GOLDBERG LEARNS TO SALSA was a 2007 NYPL Books for the Teen Age Selection. Her hybrid graphic novel, SO PUNK ROCK (AND OTHER WAYS TO DISAPPOINT YOUR MOTHER) was a Sydney Taylor Notable book for teens. More recently, her novels FAMILY, AMITY, and THE DEVIL AND WINNIE FLYNN have been featured on Buzzfeed.com, BookRiot.com, EW.com, and mtv.com. Micol received her MFA from Vermont College of Fine Arts and teaches writing for all ages, all across the country. She was also an active editor of the National Book Award-winning literacy blog, readergirlz.com. Micol lives in Brooklyn with her family and a finicky French Bulldog. Follow her on Twitter @micolz or visit her at: micolostow.com.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

[Ostow] delves deeply into the feelings of her heroine. (Publishers Weekly)

From the B&N Reads Blog

Page 1 of

Editorial Reviews

Gr 7–10
After the death of the grandmother she has never met, Emily, a Jewish teen from a New York City suburb, spends a life-changing summer in Puerto Rico. Her mother left her homeland to attend college in New York and stayed on to earn a doctorate, marry, and, seemingly, never look back. Now, the girl must sacrifice a precollege road trip and final weeks with her boyfriend to stay in Puerto Rico while her grieving parent reconnects with her past. At first, relations are strained between Emily and her relatives; though polite and tactful, she's shy and sometimes mistaken for "stuck-up," particularly by her cousin Lucy, who treats her like a spoiled, privileged brat. As her mother comes to grips with her estranged sisters and her loss, Emily learns the truth about their severed ties as well as about life in the real Puerto Rico-not the one in "getaway brochures." When Lucy suspects that she is pregnant, only her New York family can help; old-fashioned attitudes and limited options for women are part of her decision to leave the island, just as her aunt did so many years before. Emily's honest, thoughtful narrative tells this engaging story of family and culture drawn from the author's own experience.
—Barbara AuerbachCopyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

School Library Journal

Growing up in an affluent New York suburb, Emily Goldberg didn't mind not knowing about her mother's Puerto Rican childhood, but when her family travels to Puerto Rico for her grandmother's funeral, Emily's ignorance is compounded as she is bombarded by unfamiliar relatives, foreign customs and a language she can barely decipher. Despite being overwhelmed and longing for her routine New York life, Emily agrees to spend her summer in Puerto Rico helping her mother revisit her roots. As Emily slowly adjusts to the hectic routine of her stern Aunt Rosa's traditional household, she reexamines her sheltered life and recognizes her own need to connect with her heritage before heading to college. As a primarily reactive character, Emily's narrative is slightly flat, except for her rocky interactions with her moody cousin, Lucy, which provide short bursts of energy and propel Emily into becoming more proactive. Despite Emily and Lucy being well-defined, Ostow pays little attention to other characters, who fade into the well-drawn Puerto Rican setting. (Fiction. YA)

Kirkus Reviews