Islandborn

From New York Times bestseller and Pulitzer Prize winner Junot Díaz comes a debut picture book about the magic of memory and the infinite power of the imagination. Leo Espinosa received a 2019 Pura Belpré Honor Book for Illustration.

Every kid in Lola’s school was from somewhere else. Hers was a school of faraway places. So when Lola’s teacher asks the students to draw a picture of where their families immigrated from, all the kids are excited. Except Lola. She can’t remember The Island — she left when she was just a baby. 

But with the help of her family and friends, and their memories — joyous, fantastical, heartbreaking, and frightening — Lola’s imagination takes her on an extraordinary journey back to The Island. As she draws closer to the heart of her family’s story, Lola comes to understand the truth of her abuela’s words: “Just because you don’t remember a place doesn’t mean it’s not in you.”

Islandborn is a celebration of creativity, diversity, and our imagination’s boundless ability to connect us — to our families, to our past and to ourselves.

Pura Belpré Honor Book for Illustration, 2019