Christina Gonzalez -- Red Umbrella -- Coral Gables Museum

Start: Dec 17 2011 11:00 am

Join author Christina Gonzalez for this special celebration the paperback release of her award-winning novel The Red Umbrella (Yearling, $6.99) . This moving tale of a 14-year-old girl's journey from Cuba to America as part of Operation Pedro Pan -- an organized exodus of more than 14,000 unaccompanied children, whose parents sent them away to escape Fidel Castro's revolution – is perfect for all ages and all South Floridians. In 1961, two years after the Communist revolution, Lucía Álvarez finds everything begins to change when the soldiers come to her sleepy Cuban town. Freedoms are stripped away. Neighbors disappear. And her family is being watched. Lucía's parents make the heart-wrenching decision to send her and her little brother to the United States. Suddenly plunked down in Nebraska with well-meaning strangers, Lucía struggles to adapt. But what of her old life? Will she ever see her home or her parents again? And if she does, will she still be the same girl? The Red Umbrella is a moving story of country, culture, family, and the true meaning of home. Students from Hialeah Gardens High are providing special Pedro Pan-themed decorations for this celebration.