Starting over can be difficult at any age, but for a child, even small differences can feel enormous. A new classroom, unfamiliar food, strange weather, different holidays and a language you do not yet understand can make everyday life feel confusing.
That is what makes Lourdes Fasani’s Luli books so relatable.
Across Luli’s First Autumn, Luli’s First Thanksgiving, Luli’s Cafeteria Lunch, Luli’s Sad Farewell and Luli’s First Snowfall, young readers follow eight-year-old Luli as she leaves Cuba and begins building a new life in Illinois. The stories do not focus only on immigration as a major historical event. Instead, they show what change feels like through ordinary childhood moments.
In Luli’s Sad Farewell, readers first see the emotional cost of leaving home. Luli says goodbye to her grandfather and prepares to leave Marianao with her mother and younger brother. At the airport, she is told she cannot take her favorite doll with her and her mother must leave family photographs behind. Those details make the experience personal. For a young reader who has ever moved, changed schools or had to leave something important behind, Luli’s sadness may feel immediately understandable.
Then comes the challenge of fitting in.
In Luli’s Cafeteria Lunch, even lunchtime becomes stressful. Luli has never eaten in a school cafeteria before. She is surprised by cold milk and confused by broccoli, a vegetable she does not recognize. Her mother helps by sending cocoa for the milk and garlic powder for the broccoli, giving Luli a way to adjust without completely abandoning what feels familiar. By the end, she is happily eating beside her classmates.
That gradual adjustment is something many children can recognize. Fitting in does not always happen all at once.
Luli’s First Autumn explores another kind of difference. Luli had never experienced the dramatic red, orange and yellow foliage of an Illinois autumn, nor had she celebrated Halloween. Pumpkins, costumes and a school parade are all new to her. Her curiosity helps turn uncertainty into excitement.
In Luli’s First Thanksgiving, readers see Luli’s family learning a new tradition while still holding on to their own culture. Their Thanksgiving table combines turkey and pumpkin pie with Cuban dishes such as pork roast, congrí, yuca, plantains and flan. The story quietly shows that belonging does not have to mean becoming exactly like everyone else.
Then Luli’s First Snowfall introduces yet another unfamiliar experience. Luli wakes up to a white landscape and thinks the yard looks as though it has been covered in sugar. Winter clothes, snowy walks to school, Christmas decorations and new traditions become part of her growing sense of home.
Young readers may connect with Luli because her struggles are shown in ways they can understand. She worries, wonders, compares, misses home and slowly becomes more comfortable with what is new.
Lourdes Fasani’s books remind children that feeling different at first is normal. Through Luli’s experiences, they also show that confidence can grow one meal, one friendship, one holiday and one new experience at a time.
Read the book on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/stores/author/B0FVGJBMBR/allbooks
