by Monica Brown
“It is a very complex history,” says Mom.
“I’m complex,” I say.
“That’s true,” she says, smiling at me. “There have been indigenous peoples living in Peru for over eleven thousand years. But around five hundred years ago, Europeans from Spain came and wanted to conquer the indigenous peoples and take their gold and use their land.”
“That’s not nice!” says Ben.
“No, it isn’t,” says Tía Lola. “But even though many died, and the Spanish destroyed this temple and stole the gold, indigenous people are strong, and we found ways to survive. We’re still here. Some are like us and have a mix of Spanish and indigenous backgrounds. But not all are mixed. There are many indigenous groups in Peru who speak their native languages and maintain their traditions.” She hugged me close.
“We’re smart and creative people,” I say, and I feel proud that I am Peruvian.
“Here it is!” says Tía Lola. “The Temple of the Sun.” We climb up the steps of the pyramid, and when we finally reach the top, I’m amazed. I see parts of the walls and imagine the courtyards and buildings filled with the first peoples of Peru. I see the blue ocean beyond.
“Guess what?” says Ben.
“What?” I say.
“I feel really close to the sun up here,” he says.
“Guess what?” I say.
“What?” says Ben.
“I do, too.”
Lola Levine
Ms. Garcia’s class
Report #4
Pachacamac
Pachacamac is an archeological site that was named after the creator god Pacha Kamaq. The Temple of the Sun, the Painted Temple, and the Old Temple of Pachacamac can be found here. The first indigenous peoples to live at Pachacamac were the Lima people over a thousand years ago, and the last were the Inca people, who came around 1450. Archeologists like Julio C. Tello helped uncover these cultures.
Chapter Six
Flying Away
Dear Grandma Levine,
Hi, Bubbe! Guess what?! I’m writing to you from another continent, South America. Actually, I’m writing to you from my mom’s old desk in her old house in Lima, Peru. Isn’t that neat? I love it here and I am learning a lot! How are you? When are you going to visit? How are the friends you play cards with? Someday we should go to Peru together. I know you would love it as much as I do.
Shalom,
Lola Levine
Tía Lola throws a big party for us all before we leave. She and Mom make all our favorite Peruvian foods. A lot of cousins and friends of my mom come to the party, and I meet some family members for the very first time! I don’t think I realized just what a big family we have in Peru. I can tell Mom has had fun catching up with everyone this week while Ben and I were at school with Tía Lola. Eventually, Tía Lola turns on music, and everyone starts dancing.
“Louder!” says Mom, who is dancing with Dad. I can’t believe what a good dancer my mom is.
“We need to have more dance parties when we are back in the USA!” I yell over the music.
“Definitely!” Mom says, and then she grabs my hands and swings me around and around and around.
The next morning, before we leave, Tía Lola asks if I want to take a walk. First we walk to the corner store, and she buys me some Peruvian candy and treats for the plane. Then we get lúcuma ice-cream cones and walk to the park. I’m feeling sad about leaving, and I think Tía Lola can tell.
“What’s the matter, Lola?” she asks, taking my hand.
“Tía Lola,” I answer, “how can I go home after seeing palaces and pyramids and llamas? I’ll miss my new friends, and most of all, I’ll miss you. I don’t want to leave Peru.”
“You’ll be okay, my darling,” she says. “Your home is a pretty amazing place, too. Tell me, what do you like best about it?”
“Hmmmm,” I say, sniffling. “I like my dog, Bean. I do miss him. And I like my friends, especially Josh and Bella. And my room. Did you know that it’s painted purple with orange polka dots? You should come see it.”
“I will someday,” Tía Lola says. “Tell me what else you like about home.”
“Well, I do like my school, Northland Elementary,” I say, thinking out loud. “My teacher, Ms. Garcia, is pretty awesome… and the Orange Smoothies! I love my soccer team.”
“There you go,” says Tía Lola. “Your home is full of so many wonderful things, including your family,” she says.
“But what about you?” I ask.
“I’m there, too, Lola.”
“You are?” I say. “Do you mean you are going to visit us soon?”
“I am going to try to visit more often,” Tía Lola says, “but that’s not what I’m talking about right now.”
“I don’t understand,” I say. “How will you be with me at home?”
“I’ll be with you here and here,” she says, pointing to my head and my heart. “And I’ll always be at the other end of the phone or a letter, too. Okay?”
“Okay!” I say, and hug her tight.
We make it to the airport on time—barely. On the way there, Ben realizes that he left Lorenzo the stuffed llama at Tía Lola’s house. He gets so upset that Tía Lola turns around and goes back to the house. I can tell that Mom and Dad don’t think that’s a good idea, but Tía Lola says, “I don’t want my Benito’s last memory of Peru to be a sad one!” She gets us home, finds the llama under Ben’s bed, and then manages to get us to the airport just in time to catch the plane. We are all running so fast that we don’t have too much time to be sad, so that’s good.
When we get to our seats on the plane, huffing, puffing, and sweating, I tell the flight attendant, “We Levines are very dramatic.” And she just smiles.
“Want to kiss Lorenzo the llama?” Ben asks her.
“Can I give him a hug instead?” she says, and Ben agrees.
Chapter Seven
Home
Dear Diario,
It’s my first night home, and my whole vacation seems like a dream. Was I really just in Peru with Tía Lola and my family and all my new friends at San Martín? I know I was. I can’t wait to tell Bella and Josh all about my trip and share my reports with my second grade class. I think everyone will like the presents I brought them!
Shalom,
Lola Levine
P.S. I hope I dream of Peru.
A week later, on the first Sunday morning after my trip, I wake up with my dog curled at the foot of my bed.
“Good morning, Bean!” I say, and reach over to put him in my lap. I can use a long puppy cuddle. I miss Tía Lola. Then I notice there is a note on Mia’s goldfish bowl.
“Breakfast surprise at 8 o’clock!” it says. “The usual place.”
I know that Mom and Dad aren’t going to surprise us with another trip to Peru, so I wonder what the surprise is.
Mom is making banana smoothies and Dad is toasting bagels.
“Yum!” I say. “Did you get the bagels from Biff’s Bagels?”
“Yep!” says Dad. “And that’s not all. I went to a new grocery store and look what I found!”
On the table there is a big bowl of delicious mangos that glow yellow, orange, and red. I read the sticker on one of them and it says GROWN IN PERU.
“Yay!” I say. “I can’t believe it!” I smell the delicious mango, and I am back in Tía Lola’s kitchen, even if it’s just in my imagination.
Thwunk! I hear Ben jumping down the last three stairs as usual. But this time there’s also another Thwunk! Kerplunk! and an “Ouch!” Ben hops in.
“I stubbed my toe!” he says. “Ouch. Double ouch!”
“Uh-oh,” Mom says. “Are you okay?”
“I am now!” he says, plopping down at the table. “Biff’s bagels! Yum!”
A couple of weeks later, we get a big envelope all the way from Peru. It’s from Tía Lola! She has letters for each of us—and pictures, too. I put mine up on my dresser in my bedroom to look at every morning and night. Instead of making me sad
, it makes me smile.
Dear Tía Lola,
How are you? Thank you for the pictures! They are great. Please say hi to my friends at San Martín, especially Lucia and Lucas! I’m including these notes for them and also these two Orange Smoothie soccer shirts. Dad is the coach, and he let me order two extra! I gave my reports at school, and everyone was amazed. They can’t believe that I got to climb the Temple of the Sun and pet a llama. I think they wished they could go to Peru, too. I really miss you but keep remembering what you told me just before we left: that I carry you—and Peru—in my heart.
I’m sending you lots of besos and abrazos, kisses and hugs.
Shalom,
Lola Levine
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Available JULY 2017
Dear Diario,
Yay! It’s almost Halloween! And since Halloween is on a Sunday this year, it’s going to be a Halloweekend! I am so excited. Halloween is one of my favorite holidays, and not just because I love witches and ghosts and monsters, but also because I love candy! And I really don’t get to eat a lot of candy, except for Halloween. My parents don’t let me. Mom says that candy doesn’t help build strong bodies. When we want something sweet, she sometimes suggests raisins, which she says are “nature’s candy.” About two days after Halloween, Mom always has the idea that we should trade what’s left of our candy for something else, like a new book or toy. It’s her idea, not ours, but it seems like we always end up agreeing to Mom’s ideas. I’m getting sleepy now, so…
Shalom and good night,
Lola Levine
Chapter One
Boo!
On Monday morning, I wake up extra early because I have a plan. My plan is to scare my little brother, Ben. He’s okay most of the time, but he also bugs me. He likes to make jokes, and sometimes they are about me.
Last week, he kept saying “Dolores is a brontosaurus! Dolores is a brontosaurus!” because he likes rhymes. Dolores is my first name, but I go by Lola.
“I’m NOT a brontosaurus!” I tell Ben. “Dinosaurs have small brains, and mine is big!”
Ben might be good at rhyming, but guess what? I’m good at scaring people, and since it’s almost Halloween, I’m going to scare Ben this morning. I wait outside his door until I hear my dad call up the stairs like he does every morning before school.
“Kids! Wake up! Breakfast in fifteen minutes!”
I hear some mumbles and grumbles, and then I hear Ben get up. I know he’ll come out of his room soon, so I pretend to be a ghost and throw on a white sheet with holes cut out for the eyes. I crouch and wait, and when Ben steps into the hallway, I jump out in front of him and say, “Boo!” Ben jumps back and trips over his own feet. “Gotcha!” I say, and start laughing.
Ben does not think this is as funny as I do.
“You scared me, Lola! And it’s not even Halloween yet,” he complains.
“Well, it’s Halloweek,” I say, and pat him on the head. Then I go back to my room to get ready for school.
“I’ll get you back!” Ben says.
“I hope so!” I say. I like surprises.
Dad makes us pumpkin pancakes for breakfast. Not only do they have pumpkin flavor, but they are shaped like pumpkins, too! It’s going to be a great day.
When I get to school, I run over to Josh Blot and Bella Benitez, my super best friends.
“What are you going to be for Halloween?” I ask.
“I’m going to be a firefighter,” says Josh.
“That’s awesome,” I say. “How about you, Bella?”
“I’m going to be a fairy,” she says.
“How cool!” I say. “You’ll be a great fairy. When you dance ballet, it sometimes looks like you are flying.” Bella loves to dance.
“How about you?” Bella asks.
“I’m not sure yet,” I say. “I might be a zombie—or a vampire. It has to be something really scary. We always make our costumes, because my dad believes in ‘creative expression,’ but we did buy lots of black and white makeup and fake blood at the store this weekend.”
Alyssa Goldstein and Makayla Miller must be listening, because all of a sudden Alyssa says, “Gross. I don’t know why you’d want to wear fake blood or look like a monster.”
“I happen to like monsters,” I say back. “What are you going to be for Halloween?”
“Princesses,” Alyssa and Makayla say at the same time. Somehow, I’m not surprised. They sometimes act like they rule the school, but they really don’t. They like to tease me and other people, too. The bell rings, and we all walk into Ms. Garcia’s second-grade classroom and sit down.
“Good morning, students!” Ms. Garcia says.
“Good morning, Ms. Garcia!” we answer back.
“Is everyone excited for the Fall Festival?” Ms. Garcia asks.
“Yes!” the whole class says at once.
“We are going to have so many fun events this week,” Ms. Garcia says. “There are lots of celebrations during the fall, all over the world. For example, Chinese people celebrate the Moon Festival in mid-autumn. They gather with friends and family for parades under the moonlight, carrying lanterns and dancing. They celebrate, give thanks, and eat mooncakes.
“Mexicans and Mexican Americans like me celebrate Dia de los Muertos, the Day of the Dead, at the start of November. We create altars for our loved ones who have passed. Many in the United States celebrate Halloween.”
“We celebrate Dia de los Muertos, too!” says Bella.
“That’s wonderful!” says Ms. Garcia. “Fall is an important time of year for many people. Here at Northland Elementary we will have the Fall Festival this week to celebrate the transition of summer into winter during the season of autumn.”
“I know a girl named Autumn!” says Juan Gomez. “She lives on my block.”
“That’s a nice name,” says Ms. Garcia. “What do we know about autumn, the season also called fall?” I raise my hand, and Ms. Garcia calls on me.
“It’s the time of year when trees’ leaves change color and then fall off,” I say.
“That’s right, Lola,” says Ms. Garcia. “We have four seasons: summer, fall, winter, and spring. We call trees that lose all their leaves seasonally deciduous trees.” Then she writes the word deciduous on the board. It sounds like dee-sid-you-us. “Autumn is also the time when some of the food we eat is harvested, including apples.”
“Yum!” I say. “Do we get to visit an apple orchard, Ms. Garcia? Because I know last year’s second graders did.”
“Yes, we do,” says Ms. Garcia. “On Wednesday, we will go to Feliz Manzana Farm and pick some apples. Can anyone tell me what feliz manzana means in English?” I raise my hand, but Bella is quicker. “What does it mean, Bella?”
“It means ‘happy apple,’” Bella says with a smile.
“I speak Spanish, too,” I say.
“We all know that,” says Makayla, rolling her eyes. I roll mine back.
“Tomorrow, we’ll collect leaves and decorate the classroom with leaf art. We’ll visit the farm on Wednesday, and Thursday is Pumpkin Day! Each of you will bring a pumpkin to school. We’ll weigh, measure, and describe the pumpkins. After that, you’ll get to paint them. And then, finally, we are going to have a school parade on Friday during lunchtime recess. Each of you will get to dress as one of your favorite characters from a book or from history.”
I already know who my favorite book character is. I’m going to dress up as Marisol McDonald from my favorite picture book, Marisol McDonald Doesn’t Match. Marisol is bilingual, just like me. She likes to mismatch
on purpose. Best of all, she’s always true to herself, even if it means people tease her sometimes.
“Hooray! Hooray! Pumpkin Day!” I say, and everyone laughs. It feels nice—not like they are laughing at me, but like they are laughing with me.