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Américas Award Winner
"An achingly beautiful story."--Kirkus (starred review) "Eloquent."--Booklist (starred review) "Lovely and lyrical."--School Library Journal
This powerful and resonant Américas Award-winning novel tells the story of a young girl's struggle to find her place in the world and to become a writer in a country where words are feared.
Seamlessly interweaving both poetry and prose, Lynn Joseph's acclaimed debut is a lush and lyrical journey into a landscape and culture of the Dominican Republic.
The Color of My Words explores the pain and poetry of discovering what it means to be part of a family, what it takes to find your voice and the means for it to be heard, and how it feels to write it all down.
Grades 6-8.
Reading level: Grades 4-5
Reprint in Spanish. Originally published in 2000.
When life gets difficult for Ana Rosa, a twelve-year-old would-be writer living in a small village in the Dominican Republic, she can depend on her older brother to make her feel better--until the life-changing events on her thirteenth birthday.
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Publishers Weekly Review
In finely wrought chapters that at times read more like a collection of related short stories than a novel, Joseph (Jump Up Time) presents slices from the life of Ana Rosa just as she is about to turn 13. Through the heroine's poetry and recollections, readers gain a rare intimate view of life in the Dominican Republic. Ana Rosa dreams of becoming a writer even though no one but the president writes books; she learns to dance the merengue by listening to the rhythms of her beloved ocean; and the love of her older brother, Guario, comforts her through many difficulties. The author's portraits of Ana Rosa and her family are studies in spare language; the chapters often grow out of one central imageÄsuch as the gri gri tree where Ana Rosa keeps watch over her village and gets ideas for her writingÄgiving the novel the feel of an extended prose poem. The brevity of the chapters showcases Joseph's gift for metaphoric language (e.g., her description of Ana Rosa's first crush: "My dark eyes trailed him like a line of hot soot wherever he went"). When the easy rhythms of the girl's island life abruptly change due to two major events, the author develops these cataclysms so subtly that readers may not feel the impact as fully as other events, such as the heroine's unrequited love. Still, it's a testimony to the power of Joseph's writing that the developments readers will empathize with most are those of greatest importance to her winning heroine. Ages 8-12. (Aug.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
School Library Journal Review
Gr 5-8- Narrator Lisa Vidal superbly captures the voice of a young Dominican girl caught between the fire of her creative dreams and the realities of her role in a politically repressive society in Lynn Joseph's poignant novel (HarperCollins, 2000). Weaving the rhythms of her culture with her own poetic style, 12-year-old Ana Rosa vividly depicts life on her island homeland. She longs to be a writer, but with no money for paper, she writes on brown bags, napkins, and even in her brother's waiter's notebook. Onto these blank pages, she pours out the heartbreak of her first love, the shock of discovering her beloved Papi is not her real father, and her despair over the government's decision to raze their village. Although self-expression is dangerous in this political climate, Ana Rosa' s mother urges her to follow her heart. Soon after, Ana Rosa is chosen to write a protest to the newspaper in an effort to halt the destruction of their village. Her first taste of celebrity is tinged with heartbreak, as it results in the death of her beloved brother, Guario. Vowing never to write again, Ana Rosa sinks into despair until she realizes that she can use her gift to bring her brother to life again on paper. This is the story of his heroism told through the eyes of an adoring younger sister. The sprinkling of Spanish words throughout adds just the right touch to this richly crafted tale of the triumph of spirit in the face of poverty and oppression.-Laurie Edwards, Dauphin County Library System, Harrisburg, PA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Booklist Review
Gr. 4^-6. The author of A Wave in Her Pocket (1991) and other picture books set in Trinidad moves to the Dominican Republic for her first novel. Ana Rosa may not have her eye fixed on the future the way her beloved big brother, Guario, does, but as she's already filling every available scrap of paper with poems and stories, her vocation is clear. In simple but eloquent verse and prose, she introduces her family and her small, tightly knit community as she recounts pivotal events in her twelfth year, from a first crush to learning that her rum-and-merengue-loving Papi isn't her real father. Then news comes that the whole neighborhood is going to be razed to make way for a tourist hotel. Led by Guario, all band together to protest, but on Ana Rosa's thirteenth birthday the bulldozers arrive, with soldiers to defend them, and she sees Guario shot down. Unlike Frances Temple's Taste of Salt (1992), set in neighboring Haiti, this is less an indictment of a violent, corrupt, repressive regime than a coming-of-age story, propelled as much by the joy of finding the right words and capturing them on paper as by past or present tragedy. In the end, the words that had deserted Ana Rosa at her brother's death begin to sing inside her again, and with a new sense of purpose she resolves to use them to tell her brother's story. John Peters
