Christina Gonzalez
writer
Born in a small town in the Florida panhandle to Cuban parents, Christina Gonzalez moved to Miami when she was fourteen. She received a bachelor’s degree in accounting from the University of Miami and a law degree from Florida State University. Based on the experiences of her parents and of the more than 14,000 other unaccompanied minors who came to the United States from Cuba through Operation Pedro Pan, *The Red Umbrella* is her debut middle grade novel, which *Publishers Weekly* has called “a moving portrait of resilience and reinvention.” *School Library Journal* notes “This well-written novel has a thoroughly believable protagonist and well-chosen period details.”