MAMA'S NIGHTINGALE

A tale of triumph that occurs only because a young girl picks up her pencil and writes to people who can help make change.

Saya, a child of Haitian descent, and her father live together in the United States without Mama because the immigration police arrested her one night at work. For the past three months, Mama has been in the Sunshine Correctional facility, a prison for women without immigration papers. Emulating her father, who writes regularly to the media and politicians on his wife’s behalf, Saya writes a letter that is published by the local paper. When the media get involved, phone calls and letters from concerned citizens result in a hearing before an African-American judge, who rules that Mama can go home with her family to await her papers. Visually unifying the story are blue and pink nightingales (a Haitian bird and Saya’s nickname) and hearts with faces and wings or arms and legs. The stories Mama tells help to sustain both Saya and her father through bouts of sadness. Saya’s lifelike stuffed monkey companion seems to perceive what she’s feeling and also helps her to remain strong. Reflecting Danticat’s own childhood, this picture book sheds light on an important reality rarely portrayed in children’s books.

A must-read both for children who live this life of forced separation and those who don’t. (Picture book. 5-8)