Nicholasa Mohr
''El Bronx Remembered''
### *El Bronx Remembered*

Mohr's second book, *El Bronx Remembered*, was published in 1975 by Harper \& Row. It is a collection of stories and a novella about the experiences of Puerto Ricans living in New York. The stories center on the era of the Great Migration of Puerto Ricans to New York with the stories taking place from the late 1940s through the mid 1950\. In is this collection of works, Mohr writes poignantly about the immigrant experience of being "strangers in their own country" for Puerto Ricans who have been U.S. citizens all of their life, yet still feel like immigrants.

In "The Wrong Lunch Line" Mohr tells the story of an interethnic childhood friendship between a Puerto Rican girl (Yvette) and a Jewish girl (Mildred) in a diverse New York public school. When Yvette tries to eat with Mildred and the Jewish kids for a free Passover lunch at school, she gets yelled at by the teachers for being in the wrong lunch line. The girls, not fully understanding the ethnic tensions at play in the adults reactions, end up just laughing off the awkward experience. Mohr's vivid writing about young characters while conveying deeper themes has made it well suited to being widely used in grade\-school curricula.

In the novella "Herman and Alice" Mohr describes the transition from the small town gossip and constraints in Puerto Rico to the much more anonymous experience of living in New York City.

*El Bronx Remembered* was awarded the New Times Outstanding Book Award, making Mohr the first Latina woman to receive such an honor.

#### Stories

* A Very Special Pet
* A New Window Display
* "Tell the Truth..."
* Shoes for Hector
* "Once upon a Time..."
* Mr. Mendelsohn
* The Wrong Lunch Line
* A Lesson in Fortune\-Telling
* Uncle Claudio
* Princess
* Herman and Alice
* Love with Aleluya

In what ways does 'El Bronx Remembered' address issues related to identity, culture, and belonging?