On These Magic Shores

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Author(s)

Yamile Saied Méndez

Publisher

Tu Books

Genre(s)

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Release Date

April 21, 2020

ISBN

978-1643790312

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Minerva must take care of her sisters after her mother's disappearance in this magical #ownvoices middle grade story that pairs perfectly with Peter Pan. Minerva Soledad Miranda is determined to reach her goals, despite shouldering more responsibility than the other kids at school--like caring for her two sisters while her mom works two jobs. But one night, Minerva's mom doesn't come home, and Minerva has to figure out what to do. Was Mamá snapped up by immigration enforcement? Will the girls be sent to foster homes or holding centers for migrant kids? Minerva and her sisters can't let anyone know Mamá has disappeared. They'll just pretend everything is normal until she comes back.

Minerva's plan to go it alone falls apart the first afternoon, when her baby sister throws a tantrum during Minerva's audition for Peter Pan. But as the days pass and Minerva grows ever more worried about her mother, something magical seems to be watching out for them: leaving them cupcakes, helping Minerva find money, even steering them to friends and distant family who can help. Eventually, Minerva must make the hardest choice of her life. And when she does, she'll be prepared to face life's challenges--with friendship, hope, and a little bit of fairy magic.

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4 reviews

Overall rating

4.5

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4.5(2)

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Making the Best of the Situation

June 04, 2021

Overall rating

4.0

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Minerva Miranda's single mom works hard to support Minerva and her younger sisters, Kota and Avi. It involves more than one job, child care provided by a friend for Avi, and hand-me-down clothes. The family is close knit and has fun traditions from the mother's Argentine background, including a tooth fairy mouse and feeding milk to the fairies, or pequenos. The younger girls love all manner of stories about fairies, but Minerva is less than thrilled about one story in particular. Her school puts on a production of Peter Pan every year. Minerva goes to a lot of trouble to try out, only to be cast as Tiger Lily, a role which she thinks is extremely problematic. There are bigger problems, though-- one Sunday night, her mother doesn't come home. Minerva calls the nursing home where her mother works and finds that she did not show up for her last shift, but Minerva does not identify herself. She also makes sure that their landlord, Mr. Chang, doesn't find out. She finds some food for her sisters, takes Avi to day care earlier than usual, and gets herself and Kota to school. At school, she has made friends with Maverick, who is adopted and has six older sisters, and his help makes it possible for Minerva to juggle caring for her sisters. She tells the play director that she doesn't want the part, and is released from her obligation with the understanding that she needs to find someone else to take the part and pay the $50 participation fee. As the week wears on, Maverick's mother and sisters also help out, and Minerva reaches out to her estranged grandmother in Argentina. When her mother returns, having been in the hospital, Minerva knows that she will need a lot of help, especially since her mother seems to be getting worse instead of better.

Good Points

For some reason, middle school students like to read about children who need to take care of themselves; I always refer to it as the Boxcar Children Effect. It is not something that would be good to have to do in real life, but it's interesting to think about. Readers in a similar home situation will feel seen, and readers who have not experienced this will feel lucky. Minerva is a great character who really thinks through her situation and deals with it the best she can. She reaches out to a support network when she is at the end of her resources. This is an important picture of the situation that many tween students live on a daily basis, and a good reminder that sometimes problems in class reflect this often unexplored reality.

I wish there had been more detail about the mother's illness; it was very serious, and it was good that the girls had their grandmother step in, but I wanted to know more about the nature of her illness.

Like Rosenberg and Shang's upcoming Not Your All-American Girl (July 7th 2020, Scholastic Press), this covers a play and outdated social expectations for casting. Since this is set in the present rather than the 1980s, the teachers involved are open to changing the play, and even breaking with tradition and trying a new play. I remember watching Peter Pan with my own children twenty years ago and thinking "Oh. This is problematic!" Still, the plays that schools do seem to be stuck in the 1960s, so it's good to see a critical examination of these choices through a modern, racially sensitive lens.

Karen Yingling, Staff Reviewer Top 10 Reviewer 2014 reviews

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On These Magic Shores

February 04, 2020 (Updated: February 05, 2020)

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5.0

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Twelve-year-old Minerva "Minnie" Soledad Miranda has big goals. She wants to be the first Latina president of the United States and she wants to be cast as Wendy in her middle school's production of Peter Pan. The day of auditions, her mother goes missing. Minnie doesn't know what to do. So she tries her best to step in and help her younger sisters. When her mother still doesn't appear, Minnie fears the worse.

What worked: Charming middle-grade tale of a young Latinx girl who gathers the strength within to help her younger sisters after her mother goes missing. A huge plus of this novel has to be the quiet strength of Minnie, who tries to step in and help her sisters.

Magic realism with hints of Peques, Argentinian fairies, sprinkled throughout the story. After her mother's disappearance, mysterious things appear in her house like cupcakes, hidden money, and glitter around offered milk on a plate. Though Minnie brushes these strange occurrences aside, her younger sisters do believe in the fairies gifts.

One huge thing I loved had to be how Minnie stands up and points not only how offensive some parts of Peter Pan are, but looks up ways to bring in changes that are empowering. She also reaches out to others when she needs help.

Sweet diverse tale sprinkled with magic. This story also addresses profiling and racism. Plus, of course, the power of believing not only in stories, but yourself.