NPR

In Junot Diaz's 'Islandborn,' A Curious Child Recreates Her Dominican Roots

The Pulitzer Prize-winning author's new children's book follows Lola, a young Dominican-American who is "haunted by the fact that she was born on an island that she can't remember," Díaz says.
In <em>Islandborn, </em>Lola asks her grandmother what she remembers most about the Dominican Republic.

Junot Díaz wanted to write a children's book for more than 20 years. In the meantime, he wrote several grown-up books, including The Brief Wondrous Life Of Oscar Wao, which won a Pulitzer Prize in 2008. He also won a MacArthur "Genius" Grant, among other accolades.

Now, he's finished that children's book. Islandborn is about a curious, Afro-Caribbean girl named Lola.

"She is an immigrant who came over so young, she has

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