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Cindy L. Rodriguez is the author of the YA novel When Reason Breaks, (2015), the essay “I’m a Survivor” from the anthology Life Inside My Mind: 31 Authors Share Their Personal Struggles (2018), and three "Jake Maddox" books: Volleyball Ace (2020), Drill Team Determination (2021), and Gymnastics Payback (2021). Upcoming titles include The Doomed Search for the Lost City of Z (2022), and Three Pockets Full: A Story of Love, Family, and Tradition (2022). Before becoming a teacher in 2000, Cindy was an award-winning reporter for The Hartford Courant and researcher for The Boston Globe’s Spotlight Team. She is also a founder of and blogger at Latinxs in Kid Lit, which has been celebrating children’s literature by/for/about Latinxs since 2013. She lives in Connecticut with her family.
Reviewed by Rylanne Burdette for Readers' Favorite
Beto refuses to wear a guayabera to the wedding he has coming up, saying that he has better shirts he would rather wear. He and his Mami go back and forth, Beto refusing to have anything to do with the shirt and Mami trying to convince him to wear it. When Beto goes to the basement, trying to find the perfect hiding spot for the shirt so he never has to see it again, he finds some family pictures he has never seen before. His mom finds Beto looking at them, and they talk about how much they miss Beto’s dad but say that he could never be replaced. Three Pockets Full: A Story of Love, Family, and Tradition by Cindy L. Rodriguez is a must-read story.
Three Pockets Full touched my heart in a way I wasn’t expecting when I started reading it. It’s a book about family, but it’s also about grief. Readers don’t see this until later, but it is an emotion that Beto encounters. While his mother misses Beto's father too, she has found a new man to marry, who she loves dearly as well. This doesn’t mean that Beto’s father is going to be replaced though, and this understanding plays a big part in finally convincing him to wear the shirt. Cindy L. Rodriguez has written a children’s book full of beautiful art that encourages interaction between children and the people with whom they read it, whether that be parents, grandparents, or other trusted people. I enjoyed this story and would recommend it to others!
