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How to Say Goodbye in Cuban is the true story of one family’s escape from Castro’s oppression.
How to Say Goodbye in Cuban by Daniel Miyares. Anne Schwartz Books (PRH), 2025. 229 pages.
- Reading Level: Middle Grades, ages 8-10
- Recommended For: ages 8-15
“My name is Carlos, and in 1956 I lived here: in Matanzas, Cuba.” Life is good on his grandparents’ sugarcane farm with Mamí, Papí, and three siblings. On Saturdays, Abuelo takes the kids to the beach and on weekdays Carlos hangs out with his best friend Alvaro. Political news is always rumbling in the background, especially since Fidel Castro has returned from exile and is said to be raising a rebellion against Cuba’s president Fulgencio Batista. Closer to home, Carlos’s father is unhappy with his job and dreams of starting a furniture business. He’s been buying lottery tickets with that fond hope in mind – but who could have predicted that he would actually win?
Winning the lottery is a dream come true for Papí, but Carlos resents pulling up stakes and moving to Havana. The kids at school label him “country boy” and city life doesn’t suit him, even though Papí’s furniture factory is a big success. Before long, though, the whole family has more pressing worries, as Castro’s revolution has succeeded and swept the communists into power. The revolutionaries waste no time seizing private properties and businesses. Before they can take over Papí’s factory, however, the man disappears – with a promise to come back and take the family to a new home.
Daniel Miyares is telling his own father’s story. The graphic-novel format allows the boy’s mixed feelings, family alliances, and justified fears to come through vividly. The dashing artistic style adds liveliness to the dynamic of a large busy family and a sense of foreboding to scenes of genuine danger. With the increased attention focused on Latin America recently – particularly on failed and failing Communist regimes – How to Say Goodbye in Cuban provides useful background to current affairs.
Bottom Line: A relatable dive into one boy’s experience during a crucial period of 20th century history.
Related Reading From Redeemed Reader
- Reviews: Cuba in My Pocket, Refugee, Countdown, and 90 Miles to Havana are other middle-grade novels set in this period, featuring the Cuban revolution and later missile crisis.
- Reviews: Daniel Miyares is a well-known illustrator of picture books, including Hope at Sea and Float.
- Review: I Wish I Didn’t Have to Tell You This is another graphic novel (for teens) about life under communism, but from the other side of the world.
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