Nilda

by Nicholasa Mohr

Book Overview

A new edition of the acclaimed novel about a Puerto Rican girl coming of age in New York City during WWII. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 155885696X
• ISBN13: 9781558856967
• Release Date: March 2011
• Publisher: Pinata Books
• Length: 248 Pages
• Weight: 0.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.5" x 8.4"
• Age Range: 13 to 17 years
• Grade Range: Grades 8 to 12

Customer Reviews

Nilda Review

Nilda, written by Nicholasa Mohr is set in the early 1940's. It details the life of a little Puerto Rican girl who lives in a poor neighborhood in New York City that she she calls the "Barrio". Nilda deals with many of life's problems including racism, death, relationships and many more. Race is a fairly large issue for Nilda. Nilda learns and matures greatly throughout this book. Travel through the life and eyes of Nilda as she tries to deal with her crazy family. Her family includes her step dad Emilio, her mother Lydia, her great Aunt Delia, her oldest brother Jimmy, Victor, Paul, and finally Frankie. Nilda is the youngest. Nicholasa's writingis very detailed without being overly specific. Nicholasa uses simple words and phrases to make the reader understand, yet the images she portrays are unbelievabe. The imagination of a young mind such as Nilda made this book a refreshing read that I thoroughly enjoyed. I strongly recommend this book to anyone who likes biographies.

an unpretentious and realistic story

Finally, I get to read a young adult coming-of-age book that doesn't pretend to be anything it isn't! It isn't a grandiose book of romance and drugs and wonder, with the teenager becoming a hero or tragic hero. It's just a simple story of a poor New York born Puerto Rican girl hitting her adolescence during WWII, a story of love, pain, fear, discrimination, poverty, abuse, narrow-minded immigrants, relationship problems, puberty, desire for upward mobility - but none of it told in the sensational or overly dramatic way of so many young adult books. It's simple, to the point, discreet. It reminds me of that statement some famous movie director said about another director: "He showed us more with a closed door than most directors do with an open zipper." It was a book I could enjoy. It didn't have a strong plot, but it had powerful flesh-and-blood character with hearts and desires. I would say that the main character struck me as depressed, and actually, you might say most or all of the people in the book - or perhaps the culture at the time - walked around in a cloud of low-level depression. Although I gave the book five stars, it wasn't the kind of book that sets stars blazing in the sky. It was just a no-nonsense and no-frills portrayal of a time, a place, and a culture... I would whole-heartedly recommend it.

Nilda is for no doubt an excellent book.

The book Nilda was an excellent book that touched right through to me. The vivid descriptions of each and every scene in the book was very helpful to the reader to understand the book better and to feel that you are really inside the story. The way Nicholasa Mohr described the little Puerto Rican girl Nilda's feelings was very interesting, Nicolasa went straight to the little girl's heart and told everything. Overall, this is an exceptional story about hardship and discrimination that could be faced by everyday people.

An engaging look at growing up Puerto Rican in New York

N. Mohr's story of a young girl Puerto Rican girl growing up in New York, provides a poignant, often funny look at some of the issues faced by Boricuas living in the U.S. Issues such as race, religion, and machismo are all treated in the work. In fact, one of the distinguishing characteristics of this book is the manner in which such potentially sensitive issues are treated.