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INTERMEDIATE FICTION
Aguila, Mari­a Dolores

A Sea of Lemon Trees: The Corrido of Roberto Alvarez

304 pp. | Roaring Brook | September, 2025 | Trade ISBN 9781250342614 $17.99 | Ebook ISBN 9781250342607 $10.99
(2) 4-6 This historical novel in verse is based on the true story of Roberto Alvarez, a twelve-year-old Mexican American boy who was the lead plaintiff in a 1931 school segregation case in California. Mexican American students from Lemon Grove are slated to be sent to a segregated school in a retrofitted barn. The plan, made without public input, angers Roberto's parents: "We cannot send our son to be educated en / una caballeriza!" The community decides to keep their children home rather than comply. Roberto is expelled for truancy, one family is deported, and others are threatened with job losses and forfeiture of government benefits. But the families persist, choosing bilingual and academically successful Roberto to represent them, and eventually win in court. Aguila effectively conveys Roberto's innocence. When he is first removed from his school, he wonders, "Why are they doing this? / I have the neatest handwriting in my class / and perfect attendance." He's also baffled and discouraged to learn that segregation is common in the United States. In shining a spotlight on this important case, Aguila lays bare some of the harsh realities of discrimination, including some use of ethnic slurs (greaser, beaner), and readers may notice disturbingly timely parallels. Background information about the incident, an author's note, and a bibliography are appended.
Reviewer: Marva Anne Hinton | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2025

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