“Mateo is a black boy”: “the colour of the night, of plums, of birds”, with “eyes like little lamps that light up his bright smile”, born on a “faraway island in the Caribbean” and adopted by a woman who is “pink and white” and who sings him lullabies and tells him stories “… so that the parrot, the turtle and the alligator can sleep in peace”.
Mateo feels protected and loved, and when the others attack him, he himself explains “I am not biological, I’m an adopted child”. Besides, “being black is not bad”, his mother explains so that he doesn’t fight with his friends and so that he tells them that “being different is nice”, while “… she smiles at him with a mouth filled with white teeth”.
The character of Mateo represents all those children who, for whatever racial aspect, are pointed out or attacked by their classmates or other intolerant people. Also, the adoptive mother represents their refuge from the hostile world, which makes them see the positive aspects more than those of discrimination and taunting.