Amelia's Road

Amelia Luisa Martinez hates the sight of the map when her father pulls it out to find the way to the next harvest. They are migrant workers and they are constantly on the move from crop to crop and place to place. Amelia yearns for a home and a place to belong. She doesn't want to keep getting into the car to move onto the next farm and the next school where no one will bother to get to know her. But, this time, she goes to a school where the teacher, Mrs. Ramos, does get to know her name and in this place, she gets to see herself as connected and celebrated. Her picture receives a star and her heart is handed hope. Almost magically, Amelia sees a tree that looks like one she herself has drawn and she buries her box of treasures and clearly, part of herself, in that earth with a promise to return. This is a gentle, yet powerful story of the life of migrant worker families and the price they pay as they earn their wages. Pictures are beautifully poignant.