Lola Levine and the Vacation Dream Read online

  Copyright

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.

  Text copyright © 2017 by Monica Brown

  Interior Artwork copyright © 2017 by Angela Dominguez

  Llama by Jinhwan Kim

  Excerpt from Lola Levine and the Halloween Scream copyright © 2017 by Monica Brown

  Cover art © 2017 by Angela Dominguez. Cover design by Marcie Lawrence.

  Cover copyright © 2017 by Hachette Book Group, Inc.

  Hachette Book Group supports the right to free expression and the value of copyright. The purpose of copyright is to encourage writers and artists to produce the creative works that enrich our culture.

  The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book without permission is a theft of the author’s intellectual property. If you would like permission to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), please contact [email protected]. Thank you for your support of the author’s rights.

  Little, Brown and Company

  Hachette Book Group

  1290 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10104

  Visit us at lb-kids.com

  First Edition: April 2017

  Little, Brown and Company is a division of Hachette Book Group, Inc.

  The Little, Brown name and logo are trademarks of Hachette Book Group, Inc.

  The publisher is not responsible for websites (or their content) that are not owned by the publisher.

  ISBNs: 978-0-316-50639-7 (hardcover), 978-0-316-50638-0 (pbk.), 978-0-316-50635-9 (ebook)

  E3-20170330-JV-PC

  CONTENTS

  Cover

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Dedication

  Dear Diario

  Chapter One

  Flying High

  Chapter Two

  The Two Lolas

  Chapter Three

  San Martín Elementary School

  Chapter Four

  Llamas and Lúcuma

  Chapter Five

  Pachacamac

  Chapter Six

  Flying Away

  Chapter Seven

  Home

  A Sneak Peek of Lola Levine and the Halloween Scream

  For my mother,

  Isabel Maria,

  and my daughters,

  Isabella and Juliana,

  with love

  Dear Diario,

  Guess what? Tonight we all went to the opening of Dad’s art show at a fancy gallery in the city. I didn’t eat too many of the little cakes and sandwiches, even though they were tiny and I was hungry. I didn’t jump or yell or bring my soccer ball, even though the show lasted for so many hours that I felt like jumping and yelling and kicking my soccer ball. Even Ben behaved, and he had to wear fancy clothes. Dad wore a black turtleneck and put his hair into a very nice ponytail, and Mom wore red, of course. I didn’t realize how many people know my dad and his paintings. Ben and I stayed by Mom, but I snuck up to Dad for a hug a couple of times because I wanted everyone to know that I, Lola Levine, am his daughter. Dad was super happy afterward, and on the long drive home Mom, Dad, Ben, and I sang songs in English, Spanish, and sometimes both!

  Shalom,

  Lola Levine

  Chapter One

  Flying High

  I wake up the next morning with my dog curled up at the foot of my bed. I’m so glad it’s Saturday!

  “Good morning, Bean. Did you sleep well?” I ask. Then I notice there is a note on Mia’s goldfish bowl.

  “Family meeting today!” it says. “The usual time and place.”

  I’m excited, because Mom and Dad only have family meetings when they have something big and fun to tell us. The usual time and place is our kitchen table during breakfast.

  “Good morning, sunshine girl!” Mom says. “Did you get my note?”

  “Yes! Yay! What’s the surprise?” I ask.

  “We need to wait for Ben to come down,” says Mom.

  “Hi, Lola!” says Dad, and kisses the top of my head. He’s making scrambled eggs. Mom is making a big fruit salad.

  “Yum!” I tell her. “Can I help?”

  “Sure,” says Mom. “You can cut up the mangos if you are very careful.” Mom helps me cut them up.

  “Mangos are my favorite,” I say.

  “You know—” my mom starts to speak.

  “I know, I know,” I say. “Mangos are much sweeter in Peru. You’ve told me! But I was only three the last time I was there, so I can’t remember. I do remember Tía Lola taking me to the park every day, though.”

  “That’s too bad,” says Dad, “because, really, there’s nothing as delicious as a Peruvian mango.”

  I take the fruit salad to the table, and Mom pours us all warm milk with sugar and just a splash of coffee—a special weekend treat. Just then I hear a loud thwunk, which is my brother, Ben, jumping down the last three stairs.

  “Ben,” I say, shaking my head, “you couldn’t sneak up on anyone if you tried.”

  “Family meeting! Family meeting!” he yells, ignoring me. At least I think he’s ignoring me, until he jumps on my back and says, “Boo!”

  I don’t think before I spin around fast and send Ben zooming into the air and onto the table. The fruit salad goes flying. What a mess.

  “Are you ready for our family meeting?” Dad asks when we finally finish cleaning up the fruit.

  “Yes!” Ben and I say at the same time.

  “Well,” says Mom, “last night, Dad sold lots of his paintings.”

  “That’s because they are so awesome!” I say.

  “Thanks, honey,” Dad says, smiling.

  “This means we will have extra money this month, and Dad and I have been talking about how to use it.”

  “I know!” says Ben. “Let’s buy another puppy! Or a rocket ship…”

  “I think we have our hands full with Bean,” Dad says, “but what we are thinking does involve flying.”

  “A trip? Where?” I ask, crossing my fingers. There’s only one place I want to go and one person I want to see. I look at Mom hopefully. I haven’t seen my aunt Lola in almost two years. I’m named after her. I was in kindergarten when she came for my mom’s thirtieth birthday. Tía Lola is a couple of years younger than Mom, and she is fun and awesome. I write her letters all the time and she writes back. We also talk on the phone on weekends.

  “Well,” Mom says, “we were actually thinking we could visit Tía Lola in Peru.”

  “Really truly?” I ask Mom.

  “Really truly,” she says, and I can see that she’s just as happy as me.

  “Tía Lola still lives in the same house we both grew up in, but she rents rooms to an older woman and her daughter, a nurse. Lucky for us, they are both going to visit family in the north in a few weeks, so there will be room for all of us,” Mom says. “You and Ben can sleep in the room I had when I was your age!”

  “That would be so cool,” I say.

  “I have a very important question,” says Ben. “Can we bring Bean?”

  “Definitely not,” says Dad. “The flight would be too long for him. We’ll find someone nice for him to stay with.”

  “Are we taking an airplane to Peru?” Ben asks.

  “Of course!” I say. “That’s the only way to get there.”

  “You can’t go by rocket ship?” Ben asks.

  “Only astronauts fly in rocket ships,” I say. “Tía Lola lives in Lima, which is the capital of Peru, by the way. It’s on another continent, not outer space!”

  “
Don’t be such a know-it-all,” Ben says, and sticks out his tongue.

  “Mom says that being a know-it-all is just fine. It just means that I study a lot.”

  “Then you’re a show-off!” Ben says.

  “Well, I’m showing off all that I know,” I say back.

  “Hey! Let’s be kind to one another,” says Dad, but he’s looking at me.

  “I know,” I tell Ben. “When we go to the library this afternoon, we can get some books about Peru.”

  “And then you two can read them together,” says Mom.

  “Yay!” says Ben. “Then I can show Tía Lola that I’m a know-it-all, too.”

  “For now,” Dad says, “do you two want to look at Peru on a map?”

  “Yes!” we say, and we all go to the computer.

  Later in the week, Mom sets up an appointment with my teacher, Ms. Garcia. We are going to Peru for ten days, and I’m going to miss a whole week of school. We need to talk about it because I am in second grade and that’s an important grade.

  “I am excited for you, Lola,” says Ms. Garcia. “This will be a great learning opportunity, so don’t worry about missing school.”

  “I’ll get to speak Spanish all day,” I say, “and go to school with my tía Lola. She’s a teacher like you, except now she’s a principal, too!”

  “That’s great,” says Ms. Garcia.

  “What can Lola do to make up some of the work she will miss?” Mom asks.

  Ms. Garcia thinks about it and says, “Lola, why don’t you write a couple of short reports about Peru while you are there, and when you get back you can present them to the class.”

  “I like that idea,” I say, because I love to write. Ms. Garcia knows this. “What about?”

  “I’ll let you choose,” says Ms. Garcia, smiling. “You always have lots of ideas. I’ll also give you a few math worksheets.”

  Mom and Ms. Garcia talk a little longer—in Spanish, as usual. Luckily, I understand everything they are saying. One of my super best friends, Bella Benitez, is Mexican American, and sometimes we speak Spanish to confuse our other friends, Josh Blot and Juan Gomez, who don’t understand. They think we are saying secret girl-stuff, but usually we are just being silly and saying things like, “El cielo es azul,” which means, “The sky is blue.”

  Chapter Two

  The Two Lolas

  Dear Tía Lola,

  Guess what?! I am writing to you from an airplane. We are on our way to see you! I’m so excited. It’s been a fun flight. The flight attendant gave me earphones, and I’m listening to music. I finished my math worksheets already because I’m so good at math. Dad is sleeping, and Mom is trying to keep Ben busy so he doesn’t think about throwing up. He was doing fine until there were a few bumps and the plane shook. Then he said his stomach hurt, and we all know what that means. I like it when the plane moves up and down, because it feels like a roller coaster and I love roller coasters. Dad said that I probably shouldn’t yell “Woo-hoo!” every time the plane bounces, but Ben was louder than me. He was moaning so loudly that the lady in front of him turned around to see what was wrong. I told her not to worry, that we Levines are just loud people. Then Ben started to gag and she turned back around real fast! Mom wants me to try to sleep, but how can I do that when I’m on my way to see my favorite aunt in the whole wide world?

  Shalom,

  Lola Levine

  I do finally fall asleep and only wake up when the pilot announces that we are landing. Since I’m by the window, I get to see the lights of Lima, Peru. It’s dark out, so they sparkle everywhere! It looks like a fairyland.

  “Think about it, kids,” Dad says. “Each light represents a house full of people, or a restaurant, or a store.…”

  “There must be a lot of people in Lima,” I say, and wonder which light is my tía Lola’s.

  After we get off the plane, we get our luggage, stand in a long line, and show our passports to official-looking people. Then, finally, we are outside. I look everywhere but don’t see a face that I recognize.

  “Where’s Tía Lola?” I ask Mom impatiently.

  Then I hear a loud clear voice say, “Lola!” and I turn and there she is—my tía Lola. She looks a lot like my mom, except she has short hair just like me. She has big silver earrings and an even bigger smile on her face. I run to her and jump into her arms.

  “You smell like Tía Lola!” I say. “And like Peru.” Tía Lola laughs and holds me tighter. When she finally lets me go, Mom, Dad, and Ben take their turns.

  “Lo!” Mom says, and she and Tía Lola hug and jump up and down. They both start crying.

  “Don’t cry,” says Ben, looking worried.

  “Shhh. It’s okay,” I tell him. “They are happy tears.”

  “Is that something only girls do?”

  “No!” I say, and point to Dad, who is wiping away a few tears, too.

  “Benito!” Tía Lola says. “Lola! You’ve both grown as tall as the sky.”

  “I’m in kindergarten now,” Ben says, “and I didn’t throw up on the plane!”

  “Good for you!” Tía Lola says, and tweaks his cheek.

  “And I’m a second grader,” I say, “and I’m still awesome at soccer!”

  “Of course you are.” Tía Lola winks. “Now let’s get you home!”

  We drive for a while until finally I see a big white cement sign that reads LINCE.

  “This is our district!” Mom says, and asks Tía Lola to drive around the neighborhood.

  “Is the Chinese market still on the corner, Lo?” Mom asks.

  “Yes!” says Tía Lola. “Señor Chang’s granddaughter runs it now.”

  “Why is there a Chinese market in Peru?” asks Ben.

  “Peru has lots of people of many backgrounds—including Chinese Peruvians,” she tells Ben.

  “What kind of Peruvian am I?” I ask Tía Lola.

  “Well,” says Tía Lola, “you are Spanish and indigenous Peruvian.”

  “And Peruvian American,” adds Dad.

  “And that’s just on my side of the family,” says Mom. “My darling, you are a citizen of the world!” Then she points out the window. “Oh, look! That’s the place your tía and I would go get butifarras on weekends.”

  “What are butifarras?” asks Ben.

  “They are a type of sandwich with jámon del país, country ham. They have red onions and chilies, too,” Tía Lola explains.

  “Is country ham different from city ham?” Ben asks.

  “Good question, Ben,” answers Tía Lola. “I don’t know.”

  “Look, that’s the very same movie theater I used to go to,” says Mom.

  “I still go there,” says Tía Lola.

  “Our house is on Avenida Julio C. Tello,” Mom says, pointing to a sign. “Julio C. Tello was an amazing archeologist. He discovered many ruins in Peru that helped Peruvians learn more about our past.”

  “He was also the first indigenous archeologist,” says Tía Lola. “Our students learn about him.”

  “What does ‘indigenous’ mean?” asks Ben.

  “‘Indigenous’ refers to the first peoples in Peru—the original peoples native to this land. Some of our ancestors are indigenous and others are Spanish.”

  “Do you like being a teacher, Tía Lola?” I ask.

  “I love it,” she says. “Though now that I’m the principal, I don’t have just one class—I’m responsible for every student in the school. I hope you and Ben can come with me this week.”

  “That would be awesome,” I say, and I mean it. But then I think of some of the problems I’ve had at my own school with kids teasing me. “Do you think they’ll like me?” I ask.

  “I don’t think they’ll like you, Lola—I think they’ll love you!” Tía Lola says, and blows me a kiss from the front seat. I love my tía Lola so much.

  “There are many things we could do in Peru, but you are here for such a short time!” Tía Lola says.

  “I know,” says Mom, “but I could onl
y get a little time off work, and the kids have school. We didn’t want to wait until next summer to see you, Lo. What matters most is that we are together.”

  “I agree,” says Dad.

  “Besides,” Tía Lola says, “you can see ancient ruins right here in the city.”

  “I want to see ruins!” Ben yells. Then he pauses. “What are ruins?”

  “They’re the buildings and temples created by the first peoples in Peru, before the Spanish came. The ruins are over a thousand years old. Some could have been made by our ancestors,” Tía Lola says. “We’ll visit them next weekend.”

  Mom talks to Tía Lola in Spanish for the rest of the car ride, which is fine by me, because I understand most of it.

  “Here we are!” says Mom. “Kids, this is the house Lo and I grew up in!” I look and see a small orange and gray house made of cement. Across the street are apartment buildings.

  We bring our luggage inside, and Tía Lola shows us where we will sleep.

  “This was the room Lo and I shared when we were little,” Mom says. It has two beds.

  Ben jumps on one of the beds and says, “I call this one!” Then he jumps from one bed to the other.

  “Ben!” I say. “Don’t break the beds!”

  “It’s okay,” says Tía Lola with a wink. “Your mom and I used to do that all the time.”

  “See, Lola!” Ben says, sticking out his tongue. “It’s okay.”

  We’re at Tía Lola’s house! Everything is better than okay.

  Lola Levine

  Ms. Garcia’s class

  Report #1

  Julio César Tello

  Julio C. Tello was born in the Andes Mountains of Peru and grew up speaking Quechua, an indigenous language. He became a famous archeologist. An archeologist is someone who studies humans from the past and looks at the things and buildings people left behind. They dig to uncover buildings buried by sand and dirt. Julio C. Tello made many discoveries in the Andes. My mom and my aunt grew up on a street named after him!