Living in Spanish Harlem, New York, during World War II, Nilda Ramírez chronicles the four years when she moves from the innocence of childhood to the more complex confusion of young adulthood. She struggles with her Puerto Rican heritage and her American future, her devout Catholic mother and her Socialist stepfather, and the joy of new friendships and the loss of childhood friends and ideas. Most poignantly, she watches each of her four older brothers choose a life path, each of which leaves her behind in some way. The author's own black and white word-filled drawings intersperse the novel and express the mood of the story.

ñDamn you bastards, coming here making trouble. Bunch of animals.î The two police offers responding to a call about an open fire hydrant lash out furiously at the Puerto Rican residents of New York CityÍs El Barrio neighborhood. ItÍs the summer of 1941, and all ten-year-old Nilda wants to do is enjoy the cool water with her friends. But the policemenÍs curses end their fun, and their animosity is played out over and over again in NildaÍs life. She is repeatedly treated with contempt and even disgust by adults in positions of authority: teachers, nurses and social workers. At home, though, she is surrounded by a large and loving?if somewhat eccentric?family that supports and encourages her artistic abilities. She experiences the onset of World War II and watches anxiously as several brothers go off to war; her stepfatherÍs poor health means he canÍt work, causing serious financial difficulties for the family; one brother slinks off to the underworld, leaving behind a pregnant girlfriend, adding two more mouths to feed to the familyÍs already dire situation. Named an ñOutstanding Book of the Yearî by The New York Times and one of the ñBest Books of the Yearî by the American Library Association in 1973 when it was first published, Nicholasa MohrÍs classic novel about life as an immigrant in New York City offers a poignant look at one young girlÍs experiences. Issues of race, religion and machismo are realistically and movingly depicted in this groundbreaking coming-of-age novel that was one of the first by a Latina author to be hailed by the mainstream media.