Books with title Voyagers - Flight to Freedom

Yara Garcia ‘s family has lived in Havana, Cuba, for several generations, but when Communist ruler Fidel Castro clamps down on personal freedoms, the Garcias are forced to flee the island. In Miami, where they settle with other exiles, 13-year-old Yara struggles to learn a new language, make new friends, and adapt to a strange land with foreign customs. So do her parents, sisters, and grandparents, who adjust to new lives with varying success. As tension develops in the family, Yara realizes how different she is from her classmates, most of whom are allowed more privileges than she is. Set in the turbulent years of 1967 and 1968, this poignant book about immigration and separation provides a mesmerizing account of a young woman’s resiliency in the face of change and a family’s efforts to make a new life far from home.

Yara Garcia ‘s family has lived in Havana, Cuba, for several generations, but when Communist ruler Fidel Castro clamps down on personal freedoms, the Garcias are forced to flee the island. In Miami, where they settle with other exiles, 13-year-old Yara struggles to learn a new language, make new friends, and adapt to a strange land with foreign customs. So do her parents, sisters, and grandparents, who adjust to new lives with varying success. As tension develops in the family, Yara realizes how different she is from her classmates, most of whom are allowed more privileges than she is. Set in the turbulent years of 1967 and 1968, this poignant book about immigration and separation provides a mesmerizing account of a young woman’s resiliency in the face of change and a family’s efforts to make a new life far from home.

Flight to Freedom, the first of the Voyagers series, tells how fate conspires to bring the three main characters together, a young girl, the Princess Keti, a young boy, Hal, an orphan and a thief and Shakata, a giant warrior with superlative fighting skills and how in adversity their indestructible friendship is forged.In Othanya, Keti discovers that her ruthless stepmother, who had seized power as Regent, on the death of Keti’s father the King, plans to have her killed. She manages to free Shakata from the dungeon in which he had be imprisoned for daring to come to her defense. Together they escape from the palace only to be accidentally transported to far off Mazuma where they are taken captive.In distant Norhelia, Hal stows away on a merchant ship to avoid the hangman’s noose. He is one of the few who survives when the ship is wrecked on the rocks off the coast of Mazuma but is captured soon after he reaches the shore.It is in the city’s slave market that Keti and Shakata first encounter Hal. The three are sold into slavery. Keti becomes a house slave. Shakata and Hal are bought by the disreputable owner of a school of professional athletes and gladiators.In an atmosphere poisoned by political plotting and palace intrigue, the three inadvertently become the focus of a growing opposition to the self indulgent Emperor Grosso and his corrupt rule.Massive wagers are placed on the outcome of the increasingly spectacular life or death contests in which Shakata and Hal are forced to compete and they and Keti join forces to win each battle to gain their freedom.

First Person Fiction is dedicated to the immigrant experience in modern America. "Flight to Freedom" is closely based on Suarez's own story of leaving Cuba during the Freedom Flights of the 1960s.Yara Garcia and her family live a middle-class life in Havana, Cuba. But in 1967, as Communist ruler Fidel Castro tightens his hold on Cuba, the Garcias, who do not share the political beliefs of the Communist Party, are forced to flee to Miami, Florida. There, Yara encounters a strange land with foreign customs. She knows very little English, and she finds that the other students in her new school have much more freedom than she and her sisters. Tension develops between her parents, as Mami grows more independent and Papi joins a militant anti-Castro organization.

nother wonderful addition to Scholastic's superb First Person Fiction series, Flight to Freedom tells the story of the Garcia family, who in 1967, flee from Cuba to Miami, Florida. The story is told through the diary entries of thirteen-year-old Yara Garcia. In Cuba Yara hates the compulsory youth work camps and the strict food rations. However, once Yara is in Miami, she misses the family left behind in Cuba, and struggles with family tensions, a new language, and a new school. While Yara's father joins an anti-Castro group and insists that the family will soon be back in Cuba, Yara, her mother, and her sisters slowly adjust to their new life and opportunities in America. The story is absorbing, with believable characters and informative detail. An effective feature of the series is an afterword in which the writer describes his or her own experiences of immigrating to the United States. The reading level and subject matter make this book appropriate for seventh through ninth grade and TESOL students. It would work well as reading for social studies and English in studies of culture, immigration, point of view and character development.

First Person Fiction is dedicated to the immigrant experience in modern America. "Flight to Freedom" is closely based on Suarez's own story of leaving Cuba during the Freedom Flights of the 1960s.Yara Garcia and her family live a middle-class life in Havana, Cuba. But in 1967, as Communist ruler Fidel Castro tightens his hold on Cuba, the Garcias, who do not share the political beliefs of the Communist Party, are forced to flee to Miami, Florida. There, Yara encounters a strange land with foreign customs. She knows very little English, and she finds that the other students in her new school have much more freedom than she and her sisters. Tension develops between her parents, as Mami grows more independent and Papi joins a militant anti-Castro organization.