Alfredito Flies Home

by Jorge Argueta, Luis Garay (Illustrations)

Alfredito and his family are getting ready to return to their old home in El Salvador for Christmas, their first time back since they left as refugees. But they will make this trip on a plane — the first time any of them has ever flown. The excitement mounts as they drive to the airport, get on the plane and fly up into the air, each step bringing an increasing level of amazement. But the greatest moment of all is when they finally arrive and their beloved relatives meet them. Their old house looks and feels as it always did. The smells, the food, the new puppies, the familiar plants and flowers fill Alfredito's heart with a sense of belonging and joy.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Cultural

36 pages, Hardcover

First published September 28, 2007

Reviews

[Cherilyn Munoz · Rating 5 out of 5]

The story offers a different perspective, instead of migrating to the U.S. this story is offering a different perspective on how the children feel traveling back to their home country if possible. The book is age appropriate and is able to have a rich plot. The child, Alfredito is able to tell his experience down from being nervous and the different details he pays attention to as children always do. He was able to describe how he was so excited that he went to sleep with his clothes on without his parents asking him to. I think that the entire family was accurately portrayed because none of them wore traditional clothing or how other people imagine people from other countries dress. The family was dressed in western clothing and this was doing a compare and contrast between the U.S. and El Salvador.

The illustrations in the book accurately depict how living or traveling back to your home country is. The family was excited to see their family members, and you could tell by the illustrations. In El Salvador, the house did not look poorly built but they were accurate as to how the homes might look, such as with bricks and cement floors. I think that the illustrations are educating on how the home and how the country looks overall. The book offers another way to look at immigration since now the child views both countries as their homes.

The characters talk in how they would be if they were experiencing a plane flight for the first time. The main character even talks about how different this experience will be because of how they came to the U.S. the first time in comparison as to how now they will be traveling. There are a variety of characters and reasons why for example the sister stayed behind in El Salvador to finish her studies. All of the characters describe how the situation is different for each, for example, the grandmother traveling back and how she missed being home (El Salvador).

[L13F_Jana Wilkening · Rating 3 out of 5]

This 2008 America's Award Commended title follows a young boy, Alfredito, and his family as they plan to leave California and go home to El Salvador for Christmas. This will be their first time on a place which brings excitement to all. When they arrive in El Salvador, Alfredito calls it his "best Christmas ever" because of the family, traditions, familiarity, and sense of belonging that being "home" brings him. The illustrations are extremely life-like and textured. There is a useful glossary in the back. This would be a great book for grades 1-3 to discuss the idea of belonging and the importance of family/culture.

[Children's Literature Project · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reading Level: Grades 1-2

Summary: Alfredito and his family are refugees from El Salvador who live in California after crossing the border. They have not been able to return to their country, but now the family is planning to spend the Christmas holiday in El Salvador. Alfredito is excited about his return trip by airplane, and looks forward to finally being reunited with his beloved family.

Lesson Integration: This book can be used to incorporate multicultural diversity into the classroom. Students of immigrant parents and ELLs can relate to the difficult journey that Alfredito experienced, and the story will draw a direct connection to these students.

[Haydee Romero]

The story is about Alfredito and his family, immigrants living in San Fransisco, returning home after four years. Argueta describes beautifully the emotions of Alfredito and the etails of the trip. I would use this book in a classroom of older students because it is longer. Argueta’s book can be used to help students possibly relate to the story. Students can learn about an immigrants experience through the story and allow discussion of their feelings if in Alfredito’s shoes. The book would also be a great example of using adjectives and metaphors to paint a picture with words.

[Rekha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although the artwork was not my favorite style, the text and plot were really nicely done. Seldom have I seen a nicer picture book depiction of an immigrant family going back to their country of origin and the joy and sadness and homesickness of the experience. It made me remember how I felt when I went home for visits as a child.