Stella Díaz Has Something to Say

Stella comes home from school with her older brother Nick to greet their mother, who is preparing dinner. It’s the beginning of the school year—Stella is in third grade and Nick is in eighth. Over dinner, the three of them share about their weeks, speaking mostly English with some Spanish sprinkled in. Stella is excited because a new student will soon be joining her class. She hopes to befriend the new student, since Stella doesn’t have many friends in her class. She misses her best friend Jenny, who is in a different class this year. Since Stella’s first language was Spanish, she sometimes mispronounces words in English, which makes her classmates laugh. Now, at dinner, Nick laughs at Stella when she mispronounces “tornado.” Nick is usually a good older brother, but Stella hates being made fun of.

After dinner, Stella and her family move to the living room to play card games. Stella’s mom plays salsa music, and they all dance. Stella loves dancing with her mom, but she is too shy to dance around other people. Now that he’s a teenager, Nick is not as excited about dancing with Stella and their mom, but Stella knows that he still enjoys spending time with them even if he doesn’t show it.