New Book
A young Dominican American girl in New York City moves from jealousy to empathy as her parents babysit children whose families work overnight shifts in this honest and warm picture book debut. Night after night, a young girl watches her mami set up a cot in the living room for guests in their Washington Heights apartment, like Raquel (who’s boring) and Edgardo (who gets crumbs everywhere). She resents that they get the entire living room with a view of the George Washington Bridge, while all she gets is a tiny bedroom with a view of her sister (who snores). Until one night when no one comes, and it’s finally her chance! But as it turns out, sleeping on the cot in the living room isn’t all she thought it would be. With charming text by Hilda Eunice Burgos and whimsical illustrations by Gaby D’Alessandro, The Cot in the Living Room is a celebration of the ways a Dominican American community takes care of one another while showing young readers that sometimes the best way to be a better neighbor is by imagining how it feels to spend a night sleeping on someone else’s pillow.
About the Author:
Although Hilda was born and raised in New York City, she did not speak English until she started school. Her parents are originally from the Dominican Republic, and they always spoke in Spanish to Hilda and her three sisters. After graduating from the Bronx High School of Science, Hilda headed to Philadelphia to attend the University of Pennsylvania, where she majored in French and Spanish Literatures. (Now she got to read books in three different languages, which was very exciting!) She received her law degree from Harvard Law School and then returned to the Philadelphia area, where she currently works as an attorney. She and her husband have two grown children and an adorable dog named Bear.
