A girl who visits her mother’s homeland, Haiti, every winter remembers a trip when she was seven and her Auntie Luce painted her portrait. For the girl, Auntie Luce’s stories about the country, their family, and the heroes among them both, many of whom she’s painted, were eye-opening. The girl’s mother left Haiti to escape hardship. Auntie Luce stayed because she sees joy as well as the sorrow, beauty as well as the struggle. And in the portrait Auntie Luce paints of her, the girl sees something new: a sense of belonging, and history. “You were born outside, that’s true. But you hold this place in your skin, deep in your bones,” Auntie Luce explains, “Colors do not lie.” A powerful, affirming work has additional information about the history of Haiti in an author’s note. Vibrant acrylic illustrations accompany the story. (Ages 5–8)

The protagonist, a young girl, flies to Haiti every winter to visit her Auntie Luce. She has always loved her auntie's paintings and loves to sit and be painted herself. The paintings capture the beauty and darkness of Haiti, as well as the history and present-day. The bright and colorful illustrations describe the country of her heritage and the place she loves.

Américas Award Honor, 2019. Skipping Stones Honor Awards, 2019. CCBC, 2019. USBBY Outstanding International Books, 2019.

Author was born to Haitian parents and now lives in Boston with her family.

Canada. Originally published in English by Groundwood in 2018. Published in the United States by Groundwood in 2018.

A Haitian American girl finds connection to generations of family lore in this story of identity, heart and home.

Every winter, a young girl flies to Haiti to visit her Auntie Luce, a painter.

The moment she steps off the plane, she feels a wall of heat, and familiar sights soon follow — the boys selling water ice by the pink cathedral, the tap tap buses in the busy streets, the fog and steep winding road to her aunt’s home in the mountains.

The girl has always loved Auntie Luce’s paintings — the houses tucked into the hillside, colorful fishing boats by the water, heroes who fought for and won the country’s independence. Through Haiti’s colors, the girl comes to understand this place her family calls home. And when the moment finally comes to have her own portrait painted for the first time, she begins to see herself in a new way, tracing her own history and identity through her aunt’s brush.

Key Text Features
author’s note
glossary
translations

Correlates to the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts:

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.1.2
Retell stories, including key details, and demonstrate understanding of their central message or lesson.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.1.3
Describe characters, settings, and major events in a story, using key details.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.1.4

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.1.7
Use illustrations and details in a story to describe its characters, setting, or events.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.2.5
Describe the overall structure of a story, including describing how the beginning introduces the story and the ending concludes the action.