Article Published

Article_'Historic' moment

Feature News | Thursday, October 30, 2014

'Historic' moment

Author of Pedro Pan novel speaks at a school where the principal is a Pedro Pan child

FORT LAUDERDALE | Authors often write historical novels; but Christina Gonzalez knows those who have lived it — as she showed at a recent visit to St. Jerome School.

Gonzalez is the author of “The Red Umbrella,” a story of a young girl whose parents send her from Castro's Cuba as part of Operation Pedro Pan. Not only were her parents among those 14,000-plus children; the principal and three other sisters at St. Jerome are part of an order who took care of them.

Cover of "The Red Umbrella," Christina Gonzalez's historical novel of a young girl who moves from Cuba to the United States as part of Operation Pedro Pan.

Photographer: COURTESY PHOTO

Cover of "The Red Umbrella," Christina Gonzalez's historical novel of a young girl who moves from Cuba to the United States as part of Operation Pedro Pan.

"This is incredible, amazing," Gonzalez said after embracing Sister Vivian Gomez, the principal, and Sister Maria Victoria, both of them Sisters of St. Philip Neri. "I'm honoring both of them."

Gonzalez was making a special appearance at St. Jerome School, where some of the students had been reading her novel. She had been invited by Darcy Salas, teacher of middle-school language arts, because many of her students had read the book.

The author spoke to her 110 young listeners in an animated, expressive style, her face and gestures amplifying her words. But instead of speaking directly on her award-winning novel, she began by encouraging the pupils to develop their own writing skills.

Using a slideshow as well, the Coral Gables resident told of her early life in North Florida, then Miami. She spoke of bike rides and a treehouse, and of reading for fun.

But at first, she didn't take an interest in writing about her family heritage, instead getting married, becoming a lawyer and raising a family. What changed her mind was another book: Erika’s Story by Ruth Vander Zee, in which a child was thrown off a train because her mother "loved me so much." Gonzalez learned that the train was bound for a concentration camp, and that the mother was trying to save her child from almost certain death.

"That made me think of my grandparents — that they chose to save my parents — to send them away," Gonzalez said. "And no one had written about it, at least from the perspective of a young girl."

“The Red Umbrella” takes the viewpoint of a young girl in Cuba in 1961, whose carefree life is overturned by Fidel Castro's revolution. As freedoms erode, her parents decide to send her to the U.S. She must then learn a new language and lifestyle.

The book was published in 2010 to considerable welcome including the Nebraska Book Award, a gold medal from the Florida Book Award for Young Adult Literature, and Cooperative Children’s Book Center Awards for Choice Award. Then Gonzalez had to seek inspiration for a second book.

She found it in a reproduction of Guernica, the abstract Picasso painting of the Spanish Civil War. The art led her to think up the story of a Spanish girl who makes friends with a German Jewish boy who moves to town. Together, the two are recruited to spy on enemy troops — a story that builds into Gonzalez's second novel, “A Thunderous Whisper.”

"Am I done now?" she asked, then answered negative. "It comes back to your dream. You may be a soccer player, an amazing artist, a writer — whatever your dream is, keep it as part of your life. Whatever your dreams are, don’t let go."

She urged the pupils to ask their grandmothers about their family stories. "You can record on a phone, or you paint it. (But) if it's not preserved, that unique family story disappears. Then it's gone forever.

"For me, it was about my parents coming from Cuba. For you, it's the same — the stories your family keeps talking about. There is something very unique to your family."

During a Q&A period, a student asked why she wrote “The Red Umbrella.” Her answer: "It shows the generosity of the American people. They took in children, not knowing if their parents would come. This story ought to be told. People ought to know."

Answering another question, she said her characters often develop in unexpected ways. "I'm surprised by the characters themselves. As I write, each one takes on its own personality."

Christina Gonzalez shoots a "selfie" with St. Jerome students.

Photographer: COURTESY PHOTO

Christina Gonzalez shoots a "selfie" with St. Jerome students.

Does Gonzalez visit historic sites in order to write about them? she was asked. Nope, she uses Google Earth, which even allows street-level views. That allows her to narrate even chase scenes, she said.

Gonzalez also dropped a few hints about her third novel, due out next summer under Scholastic Press. She said it will be about a 12-year-old heroine in Rome who learns she's a descendant of a saint, then finds an object for which people want to kill her.

"It'll be like Percy Jackson meets Indiana Jones," Gonzalez said, drawing "Ohhhhhs" from the students.

She then made several dozen new friends by announcing that she was on Facebook and Twitter — and whipping out a cellphone camera, she shot a "selfie" with all the students.

"My first Instagram picture is with you all," she said with a smile.

Sister Vivian, 72, sat in the classroom listening to Gonzalez's talk as well. She later said she had read “The Red Umbrella” the previous night. It reminded her so much of her own story, "I had to stop because the tears came," she said.

Also at Gonzalez's talk was Sister Maria Victoria, 80, one of three St. Philip Neri sisters at St. Jerome who helped care for Pedro Pan children. She and her fellow sisters first received 20 children in May 1961, a group that grew to 100, then 1,000. They lived at a camp in Florida City while authorities found parents to foster the children.

"I felt very close to them, like their mother," Sister Maria said. "I feel good that we helped the kids through those sad moments."

Gonzalez said she has talked to other Pedro Pan alumni, in Miami and elsewhere, but this was the first time she had been at a school where one was the principal — and a former caregiver was at a nearby convent.

Even four years after publication of “The Red Umbrella,”Gonzalez said she gets 15-20 speaking engagements per year — including Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Virginia and North Carolina — sometimes in person, sometimes via Skype (online teleconferencing).

The author noted that the book also draws interest from families who have emigrated from Venezuela and Central America. "They say it has a similarity to what they went through.”

She was especially glad that boys read the books as well as girls, because her protagonists are always young females. Several of those who lined up for her to sign copies at St. Jerome, in fact, were boys.

She was asked by a student: Would she ever visit Cuba, the homeland of her parents and of the heroine of “The Red Umbrella”? Not for awhile, Gonzalez said.

"I would love to go, one day," she said. "I yearn to go where my parents grew up. But out of respect for them, I won't go there until Cuba is free."

Christina Gonzalez, middle, visits with two Sisters of St. Philip Neri at St. Jerome School. They are Sister Vivian Gomez, the principal, left; and Sister Maria Victoria, right.

Photographer: JIM DAVIS | FC

Christina Gonzalez, middle, visits with two Sisters of St. Philip Neri at St. Jerome School. They are Sister Vivian Gomez, the principal, left; and Sister Maria Victoria, right.


Powered by Parish Mate | E-system

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply