THE BLUEST SKY by Christina Diaz Gonzalez

 

Hector lives in Cuba. It is the summer of 1980 when being on the right side of the revolution is important to one's survival in this communist country. Hector's father has already been imprisoned for his political beliefs, and after his release, he headed to the United States. He hardly remembers his father. It seems life has always been just Hector, his older brother Rodrigo, and their mother.

An announcement is made by the government that anyone wishing to leave Cuba may do so if they have the right documentation and a boat to transport them. Hector's mother tells them they are going to leave and join their father in Miami. She begins the necessary preparations, but it isn't easy. Hector doesn't want to leave. He is an excellent math student and has hopes of competing in the Math Olympiad, but all that will be lost if he has to leave Cuba. There is also his grandmother, active in the communist government, who believes by leaving they will be branded traitors. 

When violence breaks out on their street and is aimed at his family, Hector fears that leaving is the only way to stay safe. He and his brother and mother are packed and ready to travel as soon as they have their papers and are assigned a boat. Once they leave their home, there is no turning back.

Author Christina Diaz Gonzalez interviewed refugees from Cuba for this frightening, heart-pounding novel. Readers will see the conflicts suffered by Hector as he struggles to come to terms with the division in his own family and between lifelong friendships. Stories of what came to be known as the boat people and their dangerous 90 mile journey from Cuba to Florida are reveal as Gonzalez's story unfolds.