Fall 2017 - Comida Con Causa discussion

My first reaction to the book is that it was below my reading level. It seemed to easy but the other books didn't peak my intrest. I continued with the book and found a problem. Within the first 2 chapters the author has already introduced to many characters. This confused me greatly as I was unable to keep track of who is who.
To know more about the author I searched his name. His story came up and I began to read it. I soon realized what he was saying was the exact story in the book. The book, in a way, is a biography of his childhood. I then think of all the negative events said in the book and realized the author went through this.
Currently, President Trump has restricted U.S. civilian access to several Cuban hotels, 80 to be exact. If the operation, pedro pan, happened this year many people would be unhappy and Trumps administration would do something about it.

90 Miles to havana from what I read is about this young boy named Julian and his life with his brothers in Havana, Cuba. The book starts out with Julian on a fishing trip with his family on a small boat the day before new years. Julian's dad lets him sit in the special fishing seat that he usually isn't allowed on. He knows if he feels a pull he needs to tell his dad or brothers but when he notices a fish on the line he decides to try and catch it by himself. He ends up losing it and feels guilty because his family believes if a big fish is caught on the last day of the year good luck will be among them for the entire next year. I can relate to julian because I am the youngest boy in my family and can see why he would try to prove himself. I think the Author, Enrique Flores-Galbis started the book on this story so that the reader could get a feel for who Julian is as a person and so that we can see how he grows and matures throughout the book.

Since page 1 to page 98 several events have happened. To summarize, the book starts when the revolution ends. Batista has fled and the people are chanting in the streets. This caused a string of negative events, because of this Julian and his two brothers are forced to leave. The three brothers land in Miami and are driven up to a camp held for refugee children. There they meet "Caballo" the bully of the camp.
Caballo is known to torment the small by pushing them around and stealing their possessions. There really isn't anything to do about caballo since the director needs him to tame to the children. Without Caballo there would be chaos. Currently in the chapter, there is a baseball game being held for the kids in the camp. On of julian's brothers is up as the pitcher and caballo is the batter, Gordo, the pitcher, is a superb pitcher and can easily strike out caballo. Though, if he does do this caballo will seem not as tough and will send away the brothers, because he has that type of power.
I believe Gordo would choose to not strike out caballo for him and his brothers sake. I’m quite curious if Gordo does strike out caballo, because I would like to see his reaction.


Diego 82-
While reading to where I am now I've been relating more and more to the main character Julian. On this part of the book Julian and his brothers travel to the U.S. through Operation Pedro Pan. They land in a camp for young cuban refugees. At the camp we are introduced to new characters like the chef Dolores and the camp bully Caballo. Julian is in a new environment that he is not 100% comfortable in and as a result he is nervous and cautious.