Santiago, Esmeralda. When I Was Puerto Rican. Cambridge, MA: Da Capo Press, 1993. 266 pages.

In this memoir, written in English and interspersed with Spanish, Santiago narrates her childhood in rural Puerto Rico through her move to New York as an adolescent. The first half of the memoir centers on Santiago’s childhood in Macún, a small town in Puerto Rico, with her mother, father, and siblings. Santiago recaptures the daily routine and unique moments of her childhood, such as attending school for the first time, assisting in the burial of a newborn, caring for her brothers and sisters, and assisting her mother around the house. Although Esmeralda is loved and relates many positive experiences of childhood, her father’s inconsistent employment and extramarital affairs places an economic and emotional strain on the family, forcing Esmeralda’s mother to move the family to New York. In New York, Esmeralda struggles to learn English, the geography of her new city, and how to reconcile her culture with the new culture with which she comes into contact.