Home at Last Kirkus "[Susan Middleton] Elya departs here from her usual format of teaching Spanish to explore the difficulties faced by immigrants in a new land.  Ana's family, just arrived from Mexico, must adjust to foreign surroundings and a different language.  Ana is delighted with her teacher in school and picks up English quickly.  Her father's job in the canning factory affords him the opportunity to learn English, too.  But her mother, who mostly stays in the apartment with Ana's twin brothers, feels homesick and overwhelmed with the prospect of learning a new language.  Not being able to communicate at the grocery store is bad enough, but when one of the twins becomes ill and Mama cannot make herself understood by the neighbors, she knows it is time to learn English. With the family's encouragement, she enrolls in a class in the evening and makes steady progress, acing her first test.  Mama finds that her newfound language skills make life easier, enabling her finally to think of the new place as home.  Appealing illustrations in oil convey the warmth of Ana's family, although they are portrayed as more middle class than the average newcomer from Mexico is likely to be.  A well-told story of triumph and family solidarity." Booklist "Ana and her family have recently arrived in the U.S. from Mexico.  Ana goes to school and her papa has a job, but Mama stays home with the twin toddlers, isolated and unable to speak English.  Although told from Ana's point of view, this is really the mother's story.  Mrs. Patino is embarrassed in the grocery store, and she panics when one of the boys gets sick and she can't ask for help.  In bibliotherapeutic fashion, Ana and her father persuade Mama to go to English class, where she learns the language, passes her test perfectly, and even successfully deals with the clerk who overcharged her at the grocery store.  Despite the rather dutiful (ugh!) text, this highlights a problem many immigrant children must deal with -- the inability or unwillingness of a parent to learn English.  The sturdy illustrations, handsomely executed in oils, are most successful when depicting the expressions of characters:  fear, pleasure, and eventually, hope." --Ilene Cooper The Sacramento Bee "Home at Last by Susan Middleton Elya is a touching story about a mother from Mexico who relies on her 8-year-old daughter to translate for her.  Not until she's cheated at the grocery store does she bend to her daughter's wishes and begin to learn English.  Colorful illustrations by Felipe Davalos of Sacramento capture every nuance of the family's isolation and struggles to adapt to their new land."  -- Judy Green The Reading Teacher "When Ana and her family move from Mexico to the United States they are faced with the challenges of learning a new language and acclimating to the customs of a new culture.  In Home at Last, by Susan Middleton Elya,  8-year old Ana, initially shy of her classmates, quickly picks up English words and practices them at home with her father.  The move wears much harder on her mother, who misses friends and family and struggles doing the grocery shopping in English.  Ana and her father encourage Mama to attend English as a Second Language classes, supporting her as she learns to speak and becomes more functional and comfortable in American culture.  Elya masterfully combines bilingual elements into this engaging and thoughful family story, Felipe Davalos's oil paintings are detailed and thoughtful, showcasing the characters' emotions and the book's settings." Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books "The Patino family has just arrived in the United States, when Papa takes a factory job with his brother and Ana is promptly packed off to school.  The young girl slowly but successfully makes inroads into a new language and culture; Mama, though, is pretty much stranded in their apartment with the twin baby boys, and for her acculturation is a much greater challenge.  Nothing at the grocery store is familiar; she's overcharged by the clerk, and she's treated brusquely by neighbors who have no patience with her stumbling attempts at English.  Only when one of the babies falls ill and Papa is not around to help is Mama finally convinced that she, too, must learn English, and her diligence at night school finally pays off in a triumph at the grocery store and the promise of their first family feast.  Although the tale focuses on Mama, it plays through Ana's point of view, and the child's frustration with Mama's stubborness and her own inability to help in any direct way are powerfully conveyed.  Davalos captures much of Mama's pain and dignity in her expressive doe eyes . . . the text . . . is smooth and well paced, and listeners who take communication for granted will readily sense the vulnerability of a newcomer who has left her language at home."