All the Way to Havana

By Margarita Engle and Mike Curato

So we purr, cara cara, and we glide, taka taka, and we zoom, zoom, ZOOM!
Together, a boy and his parents drive to the city of Havana, Cuba, in their old family car. Along the way, they experience the sights and sounds of the streets—neighbors talking, musicians performing, and beautiful, colorful cars putt-putting and bumpety-bumping along. In the end, though, it’s their old car, Cara Cara, that the boy loves best. A joyful celebration of the Cuban people and their resourceful innovation.

ALSC Notable Book

• Language: English
• Publisher: Macmillan Publishers
• Release date: Aug 29, 2017
• ISBN: 9781250184566

Margarita Engle

Margarita Engle is the Cuban American author of many books including the verse novels Rima’s Rebellion; Your Heart, My Sky; With a Star in My Hand; The Surrender Tree, a Newbery Honor winner; and The Lightning Dreamer. Her verse memoirs include Soaring Earth and Enchanted Air, which received the Pura Belpré Award, a Walter Dean Myers Award Honor, and was a finalist for the YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction, among others. Her picture books include Drum Dream Girl, Dancing Hands, and The Flying Girl. Visit her at MargaritaEngle.com.

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Reviews for All the Way to Havana

[librarianryan · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is an interesting look at the classic cars in Havana. Our boy has to help papa fix the old car so they can see the new baby. The story hits on the poverty in Cuba and how inventive people have to be to keep old things running like new. I loved everything about this story, including the editors and illustrators notes at the end.

[meditationesmartini · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Like many parents of toddlers I get pretty sick of vroomin' stories and so here is a nice one that's really about family and how your old car takes you to the places that matter.

[melodyreads · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Nicely done! I love author/illustrator notes at the end of the book.

[abigailadams26 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This new picture-book from Cuban-American poet and children's author Margarita Engle follows the story of one day in the life of a young boy and his family, as they make the trip from their home in the country to big city Havana for an important celebration. Forced by circumstance - namely, the U.S. embargo against trade with Cuba that has been in place since the late 1950s - to improvise, the young narrator's family continues to use the same automobile that belonged to the boy's great-grandfather, making stop-gap repairs and replacements, as needed. On the drive into the city, the boy sees many other vintage cars that have been likewise adapted, but none appeal to him as his own family's vehicle - nicknamed Cara Cara for the sounds it makes - does...Envisioned by the author as a tribute to the ingenuity and perseverance of the Cuban people, in the face of the poverty and scarcity that are the result of the embargo, All the Way to Havana is an engaging book, one which pairs an evocative narrative from Engle with lovely artwork from illustrator Mike Curato. The illustrations, created in mixed media, are a bit of a departure for Curato, after his Little Elliot books, and are apparently the product of a trip that the artist took to Cuba, in which he stayed with the author's cousins. Colorful, full of motion and energy, the visuals here are a perfect complement to the text. Although not generally a car lover, I was fascinated by the idea of a society in which vehicles from half a century before are still in common use, and was moved by the themes of creativity and love of family highlighted in the story. Recommended to anyone looking for children's stories featuring Cuba, the embargo on Cuba, or the experiences of impoverished people in general.