El color de mis palabras

Friday I finished reading El color de mis palabras by Lynn Joseph and translated by Alberto Jimenez Rioja (also available in English). The main character Ana Rosa is discovering a lot about herself, her family, and her country (the Dominican Republic). Despite government enforced restrictions, she loves writing and composed poems in her mind and later converts them to any piece of paper she can find. Each chapter begins with one of her poems followed by prose unveiling another layer of her story with its interesting twists and turns. My students were captivated with different sections, although some of them were unsatisfied with the ending which they thought was a little too open ended. I think some of them are still learning to enjoy endings open to interpretation. Another student was excited to point out the meaning of the front cover upon reading the last chapter. The book also fit in well with our unit theme "Take a Stand", and the students were familiar with the Dominican Republic from reading Cuando Tia Lola vino (de visita) a quedarse as a class earlier this fall.