Gloriana, Presente: A First Day of School Story

K-Gr 3–On Gloriana’s first day of school, Abuela tells her a story about their family’s home in the Dominican Republic to calm her nerves. Gloriana dances to imaginary bachata music as they walk toward the school. They pretend to ride the waves, and Gloriana’s nervous butterflies flee. But the nerves return at school as she struggles to understand the words she hears. She retrieves those memories of the Dominican Republic to help her respond, but it doesn’t always work—she misses out on a chance for friends and doesn’t answer a question in class that she has the right answer to. As she tells Abuela about her day, her grandmother empathizes with her difficulties. A few weeks later, Gloriana pulls up all her memories to fuel her courage as she tells her class about her home and family. The story blends English and Spanish text together just as a bilingual student might, but the Spanish isn’t always easy to figure out just from context. This is where the illustrations step in with their blend of present happenings and island memories. The gorgeous acrylic illustrations jump off the page, highlighting the power of memories to take the place of fear.