In this realistic and empowering tale, Carmen learns that through community and love, she can find strength in herself and maintain her connection with her Papi, who has been detained because of his immigration status.

Read an excerpt from the adult-child dialog section of Something Happened to My Dad.

Hear Something Happened to My Dad read by Ann Hazzard.  Escucha a Algo Le Pasó a Mi Papá leido por Vivianne Aponte Rivera.

by Ann Hazzard, PhD

This Article's Author

Ann Hazzard, PhD, ABPP, is a co-author of Something Happened in Our Town and Something Happened in Our Park. As a psychologist, she has utilized therapeutic stories in treatment with children and teens. As a community advocate, she has focused on children's behavioral health and social justice.
by Vivianne Aponte Rivera, MD

This Article's Author

Vivianne Aponte Rivera, MD, is a child and adolescent psychiatrist who is originally from Puerto Rico. She is on the faculty at Tulane University School of Medicine and has worked with immigrant families throughout her career. Dr. Rivera and Dr. Hazzard were faculty members at Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta at the same time, each working at clinics serving mostly minority and immigrant families.

Related Books from Magination Press

  • Something Happened to My Dad: A Story About Immigration and Family Separation

    Ann Hazzard, PhD, ABPP and Vivianne Aponte Rivera, MD

    In this realistic and empowering tale, Carmen learns that through community and love, she can find strength in herself and maintain her connection with her Papi, who has been detained because of his immigration status.

    Carmen loves doing magic with her Papi. He can make sarapes fly. He can make rabbits vanish! But one day, her Papi vanishes. She is sad and scared when she learns he has been detained because he is an undocumented immigrant from Mexico. At first, Carmen’s family keeps Papi’s detention a secret, fearing that they might be judged negatively. As Carmen’s community becomes aware of their situation, they rally around her family with love. Carmen learns she can find strength in herself and maintain her connection with Papi, no matter what happens.

    The Something Happened books present and explain sensitive and important events happening in communities across the United States and around the world. Told in clear, compelling stories, the books come with the authority of psychological expertise from the American Psychological Association. They include Something Happened in Our Town: A Child’s Story of Racial Injustice, which is a New York Times and #1 IndieBound bestseller, and one of ALA’s most banned books; Something Happened in Our Park: Standing Together After Gun Violence, which was nominated for The Goddard Riverside CBC Youth Book Prize for Social Justice; and Something Happened to My Dad: A Story About Immigration and Family Separation.

    Something Happened to My Dad: A Story About Immigration and Family Separation is also available in Spanish.

  • Algo Le Pasó a Mi Papá: Una Historia Sobre Inmigración y la Separación Familiar

    Vivianne Aponte Rivera, MD and Ann Hazzard, PhD, ABPP

    A Carmen le encanta hacer trucos de magia con su Papi. Él puede hacer volar los sarapes. ¡Él puede hacer desaparecer los conejos! Pero un día, su Papi desaparece. Ella se siente triste y asustada cuando se entera que él ha sido detenido porque es un inmigrante indocumentado de México. Inicialmente, la familia de Carmen mantiene en secreto la detención de Papi, por miedo a ser juzgados negativamente. A medida que los demás se dan cuenta de la situación, la comunidad de Carmen se une en apoyo a su familia. Carmen aprende que, a través de la comunidad y el amor, puede encontrar fuerza dentro de sí misma y mantener su conexión con Papi no importa lo que pase.