LETTERS FROM HEAVEN / CARTAS DEL CIELO

Celeste struggles to process her feelings of sadness following her grandmother’s death.

A week after her grandmother’s death, Celeste receives a package with a letter and a recipe for her special cangrejitos, a type of Cuban croissant. Making them helps her to feel less sad, but how can she explain that she received this package from beyond the grave? Over the days and weeks, the letters keep arriving, each with its own recipe for a traditional Cuban dish, eventually making a complete meal from appetizer to dessert. At the end of each letter, Grandma Rosa asks Celeste to remember her “with love…and flavor!” The letters help Celeste to process her feelings about the loss and to learn to ask for support from her friends and the adults in her life. Eventually, the enigma of the letters is revealed in a way that brings Celeste together with her family and friends in remembrance of her grandmother. This bilingual book presents the entire English narrative first, followed by the Spanish. It is a quick read that balances the pain of loss with mystery and humor. Each recipe that is mentioned in the book is included at the end of the chapter.

A tender depiction of a child’s acceptance of the death of a beloved grandmother and the cultural importance of traditional foods.