The Meaning Of Consuelo

La nina seria, the serious child. That’s how Consuelo’s mother has cast her pensive, book-loving daughter, while Consuelo’s younger sister, Mili, is seen as vivacious—a ray of tropical sunshine. Two daughters: one dark, one light; one to offer comfort and consolation, the other to charm and delight. But something is not right in this Puerto Rican family. Coming of age when American influence threatens to dilute the island’s traditional Spanish customs as well as to harm, perhaps irreparably, its fragile ecology, Consuelo watches her family and culture being torn asunder—much like the island itself.

“A bittersweet tale of the price one pays to reinvent the story handed down by one’s antepasados and familia. Consuelo is both herself and every mujer, and her story her own and that of her island, torn between self-discovery and safety.” —Julia Alvarez, author of How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents

Judith Ortiz Cofer was born in Hormigueros, Puerto Rico, and grew up on the island and in Paterson, New Jersey, before her family moved to Georgia. Ortiz Cofer is the author of ten books, including The Line of the Sun, The Latin Deli, and Silent Dancing: A Partial Remembrance of a Puerto Rican Childhood, and her work has been published in numerous anthologies. Her book An Island Like You: Stories of the Barrio has received several distinctions, including the American Library Association REFORMA Pura Belpre Honor Award, and it was also named a School Library Journal Best Book of the Year.