ABOUT THIS BOOK

After Tyler's father is injured in a tractor accident, his family is forced to hire migrant Mexican workers to help save their Vermont farm from foreclosure. Tyler isn’t sure what to make of these workers. Are they undocumented? And what about the three daughters, particularly Mari, the oldest, who is proud of her Mexican heritage but also increasingly connected her American life. Her family lives in constant fear of being discovered by the authorities and sent back to the poverty they left behind in Mexico. Can Tyler and Mari find a way to be friends despite their differences?

In a novel full of hope, but no easy answers, Julia Alvarez weaves a beautiful and timely story that will stay with readers long after they finish it.


ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Julia Alvarez is the author of several novels for young readers including How Tía Lola Came to Visit Stay, Finding Miracles, and Before We Were Free, winner of the ALA’s Pura Belpré Award. Her books for adults include How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents, In the Time of the Butterflies, and Once Upon a Quinceañera. She is a writer-in-residence at Middlebury College in Vermont.


AWARDS

WINNER 2010 - Pura Belpre Author Award Winner
WINNER 2010 - ALA Notable Children's Book
WINNER 2010 - NCSS/CBC Notable Children's Trade Books in the Field of Social Studies
NOMINEE - Indiana Young Hoosier Award
WINNER - Américas Award for Children’s and Young Adult Literature
NOMINEE - ALA Best Books for Young Adults
WINNER - Chicago Public Library’s Best of the Best books
WINNER - ALA Notable Children's Book
NOMINEE - South Carolina Junior Book Award
NOMINEE - Kansas William White Award