Based on the true story of Roberto Alvarez and the Lemon Grove Incident, this vivid and uplifting middle grade debut novel in verse about one young child's courage to stand up for what is right, and the determination of the Mexican community is perfect for fans of ESPERANZA RISING and INSIDE OUT AND BACK AGAIN.
Twelve-year-old Roberto Alvarez is the youngest of his siblings, the last one born on United States soil. He's el futuro, their dream for a life away from the fire of the Mexican revolution.
Moved by anti-immigrant & anti-Mexican propaganda, the Lemon Grove School Board and Chamber of Commerce create a separate "Americanization" school for the Mexican children attending the Lemon Grove Grammar School. But the new Olive Street School is an old barn retrofitted for the children forced to attend a segregated school.
Amidst threats of deportation, the Comité de Vecinos risk everything to stand their ground, and with the support of the Mexican Consulate, chose Roberto as the lead plaintiff in a lawsuit against the school board.
From critically-acclaimed author María Dolores Águila (Barrio Rising) comes an inspiring debut novel in verse set against the backdrop of the Great Depression and Mexican Repatriation, based on the true story of the United States' first successful school desegregation case, two decades before Brown v. Board of Education ruled that racial segregation in public schools was unconstitutional.---from the publisher
304 pages 978-1250342614 Ages 9-12
Keywords: novel in verse, finding your voice, standing up for yourself, social issues, Hispanic and Latino, prejudice, discrimination, school issues, civil rights, Mexican, lawsuit, Great Depression, American history, Social Studies Curriculum, 10 year old, 11 year old, 12 year old, 13 year old, 20th century
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“The doctrine of 'separate but equal' has no place in the field of public education. Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal."
– Chief Justice Earl Warren, Brown v Board of Education (1954)
“Hope” is the thing with feathers -
That perches in the soul -
And sings the tune without the words -
And never stops - at all”
– Emily Dickenson (1861)
Roberto Alvarez, the youngest of four siblings, is a twelve-year-old in La Mesa, California at the dawn of the Great Depression. He is a star student and fully bilingual, with great handwriting and perfect attendance at Lemon Grove Grammar School.
“MRS. MARKLAND’S RULER THWAPS
against the chalkboard,
and everyone jumps,
like marionettes on strings.
Enrique! Mrs. Markland scolds. Mr. Green’s
office, now!
A sheepish smile spreads
across Enrique’s face
as he walks
s l o w l y
to the door
while Mrs. Markland
scowls and taps her foot.
To my left,
Mary and Socorro
hide their giggles
behind their hands.
That’s enough, students, scolds Mrs. Markland.
When I glance at my best friend, David,
he shrugs.
We go back to subtraction.
Look, whispers David. They’re sending him home.
My eyes follow
his index finger
through the window
as Enrique walks
toward the Mexican side of town,
la colonia.
Something about it
does not sit right,
but when Mrs. Markland calls my name,
I answer
the math problem
because that is
the only thing
I am sure of.
436.
DURING LUNCH
David and I trade burritos.
I saw him, says Carter, his mouth full. He was
playing around.
Nuh-uh, says Pancho, shaking his head. He
wasn’t!
What do you think, Roberto? asks Carter.
I shrug.
C’mon, Roberto, says Carter.
I didn’t see, I say.
Your nose was buried in a book, laughs Pancho.
I don’t think they should have sent him home, says
David.
What do you mean? I ask.
David, Pancho, and Carter
look at each other.
They only send the Mexican kids home, says
Carter. The other kids always come back from
the office. Haven’t you noticed?
I pick at the brown paper
wrapped around my burrito
as I think about this.
He’s right.”
Back in 1930, in addition to the rank prejudice, Mexican Americans were being scapegoated as being responsible for the country’s growing economic woes. To too many of the townspeople, Roberto and his friends are seen as “greasers,” “wetbacks,” and “beaners.” The school trustees decide to require the Hispanic students to leave the school and, instead, go study in a shack (la caballeriza) on “their” side of Main Street.
Roberto’s parents keep him out of school. They protest the change and organize a community group to fight it. Through the Mexican Consulate, they acquire legal counsel and support. American-born Roberto is chosen as the lead plaintiff in a planned lawsuit. Roberto himself comes to the conclusion that,
“At school, they told us we were all equal…I
start, unsure of what to say next.
My lips are dry
in the cool night air
when it finally comes to me
and la caballeriza is not equal.”
But pressure is forcefully applied to the Mexican-American community to accept the planned segregation. Threats and intimidation are followed with deportations, school expulsions, and loss of government benefits. (Sound familiar?) It is all too much for some parents, who reluctantly send their elementary students to the barn-like “school.” Finally, Roberto gets his day in court:
IT’S TIME TO TELL MY STORY
With trembling knees,
I rise from my chair.
I put one hand on a Bible
and the other over my heart.
Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but
the truth, so help you God?
The courtroom is quiet.
My voice is loud and clear.
I will tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but
the truth, so help me God.
A SEA OF LEMON TREES: THE CORRIDO OF ROBERTO ALVAREZ is a must-have for collections serving elementary and middle schoolers. Based upon America’s first successful school desegregation court case (Roberto Alvarez v. the Board of Trustees of the Lemon Grove School District), we can imagine this student making American history. It’s a verse novel that is a compelling and important piece of historical fiction.
In the process of learning this history, young readers will pick up dozens of Spanish words and read lots about Mexican American meals and holiday customs. An afterword explains how, back in the 1930s, contempt for Mexicans led to hundreds of thousands of Mexican nationals and their American-born children being forcefully and illegally deported without due process.
Yep. The prejudice and hate never ends.
Recommended by: Richie Partington, MLIS, California USA
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