90 Miles to Havana by Enrique Flores-Galbis

An 11-year-old boy flees revolutionary Cuba with his brothers and learns American enterprise in this vivid, fast-paced middle-grade historical novel.

90 Miles to Havana, by Enrique Flores-Galbis.  Roaring Brook Press, 2010, 292 pages. 

Reading level: Middle Grades, 10-12

Recommended for: Ages 12-14

People are chanting and dancing on a carpet of paintings, curtains, and clothing.  They cheer when a man walks out onto the balcony, waves, and then says something to the crowd.  As soon as he walks back inside it starts raining chairs.  They come spinning through the windows, flying over the railing and crashing dangerously close to the wild mob, but no one seems to mind.

That’s the scene Julian encounters on New Years Eve, 1961, as he, his parents and his two older brothers are driving home from a fishing expedition.  His mother is not hopeful: “Don’t look away boys, I don’t want you to ever forget what a revolution looks like.”  Soon enough, they learn the shape of this revolution when neighbor families are removed from their homes and a Communist party official is installed next door.  One too many “incidents,” and the official is threatening to send the boys to reeducation camps.  Their mother arranges to get them out of the country via “Operation Pedro Pan,” a brief window of opportunity for children to escape the Communist hammer.  Julian, Gordo, and Alquilino arrive at “Camp Kendall” near Miami, a way-station overseen by a harried young priest who has entrusted way too much responsibility to “Caballo” (Horse), a bully whom Gordo knew back in Cuba.  Caballo intends to maintain his status, which means hard times for Julian and his brothers.  They fight back with nerve and fists, and sometimes with this democratic system that Dolores, the camp cook, is always going on about.  But Caballo appears to gain the upper hand when Gordo and Alquilino are sent to an orphanage in Colorado: a cold place with mean nuns, according to the camp grapevine.  Julian has to make his own contacts and decisions, including whether to join a rescue mission with his new friend Tomas, a teenage refugee-entrepreneur.

The author, who experienced Pedro Pan with his own two brothers, communicates Julian’s feelings with understated eloquence: The moon is drifting over the wild place between the camp and the tomato fields.  I can feel it tugging on a little thread of sadness that’s been stuck in my throat for weeks.  But, as Dolores says, “Enough talk!  Now pick up them potatoes and start to peelin’!”  There are plans to be made, bullies to be thwarted, callings to measure up to.  Told from a child’s point of view, historical details are sketchy.  We never learn the new Cuban leader’s name (Fidel Castro), much less the old leader’s, or what year this took place.  But the relevant details are bountifully supplied; the characters are deftly drawn, and the action is fast.  Almost too fast, at times: I would have liked a little more about the climatic rescue run over those 90 miles of shark-infested water.  Julian’s longings to catch a big fish and be a hero in the first chapter are answered in the last, and he’s done a lot of growing up in the meantime.

Cautions: Language (one swear word)

Overall Value: 4 (out of 5)

• Worldview/moral value: 3.75
• Artistic value: 4

Questions to think about:

• Read the dedication.  What does that tell you about the author’s family?  If you were dedicating a novel to your family, what would you say?
• Read a short online article about the Cuban revolution.  Do Julian’s experiences seem realistic to you?

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