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33rd out of 136 books
—
554 voters
The Queen of Water
by
Laura Resau (Goodreads Author),
María Virginia Farinango
Born in an Andean village in Ecuador, Virginia lives with her large family in a small, earthen-walled dwelling. In her village of indígenas, it is not uncommon to work in the fields all day, even as a child, or to be called a longa tonta—stupid Indian—by members of the ruling class of mestizos, or Spanish descendants. When seven-year-old Virginia is taken from her village...more
Hardcover, 368 pages
Published
March 8th 2011
by Delacorte Books for Young Readers
(first published February 28th 2011)
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Oops, I finished already. I could just never tell what was going to happen and I HAD to keep reading.
In some ways this reminds me of certain books that were popular with kids in middle school (and, as I understand it, still are)--slightly graphic, exploitative books about abused children, sometimes memoirs. (Come to think of it, those are popular with adults, too.) I say that ONLY to point out that I think there's a big audience for this book, which I wasn't expecting at all. This book is the op...more
In some ways this reminds me of certain books that were popular with kids in middle school (and, as I understand it, still are)--slightly graphic, exploitative books about abused children, sometimes memoirs. (Come to think of it, those are popular with adults, too.) I say that ONLY to point out that I think there's a big audience for this book, which I wasn't expecting at all. This book is the op...more
Born in an impoverished Andean village in Ecuador, Virginia is sold/given by her parents at the tender age of seven to a mestizo couple, light-skinned and rich and of Spanish origin. Being a longa tonta - a stupid Indian, indigenous - Virginia is their servant, taking care of their two children, the housekeeping and cooking.
The Doctorina - a dentist, teacher and the family’s breadwinner - is controlling and abusive to Virginia, treating her like an animal that needs breaking. Her husband, Niño C...more
The Doctorina - a dentist, teacher and the family’s breadwinner - is controlling and abusive to Virginia, treating her like an animal that needs breaking. Her husband, Niño C...more
Reviewed at:
http://www.teachmentortexts.com/2012/...
4.5 stars
The Queen of Water reminds me of Sold by Patricia McCormick. It is one of those books that you begin reading and you hope that it takes place a hundred years ago, but then throughout the book, you begin to realize that it only took place a decade or two ago. Virginia is an indigenous girl living with her family in a small village in Ecuador. When she is only about 5 or 6, her parents sell her to a rich mestiizo (Spanish) family with t...more
http://www.teachmentortexts.com/2012/...
4.5 stars
The Queen of Water reminds me of Sold by Patricia McCormick. It is one of those books that you begin reading and you hope that it takes place a hundred years ago, but then throughout the book, you begin to realize that it only took place a decade or two ago. Virginia is an indigenous girl living with her family in a small village in Ecuador. When she is only about 5 or 6, her parents sell her to a rich mestiizo (Spanish) family with t...more
Apr 30, 2013
Kate Gerhard
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
EVERYONE
Recommended to Kate by:
Book Club
In short this book is about a poor Indigenous (Indian) Virginia who is 'sold' to a Mezimo (White)family as a servant. To bad for her family that the owners do not ever intend to pay, or to let her leave. So that leaves little Virginia growing up with The Doctorita and her family, but as time continues, and she grows older, she becomes caught up in the crazy aspects of life. And to make matters worse she gets trapped in a web of domestic slavery and is held their out of fear.
The first thing I MUS...more
The first thing I MUS...more
The book is a cheerful, first-person narrative of how Virginia, an indigenous girl in Ecuador, is taken away as a slave by a middle-class Spanish family, and how she manages to overcome the odds that are stacked completely against her. While the book does talk about her many successes and eventual triumph [spoiler alert!], there is certainly an element of suspense as the reader is constantly left to wonder as to what could happen next. The first-person narrative style of the book makes this effe...more
Pre Chapter One, the author acquaints the reader with two kinds of people who emerged in Ecuador. One group is the Mestizos, the rich, well-educated, lighter skinned people, and the other group is the Indiginas, the darker skinned, poor people who farm under the hot sun. This historical perspective frames these two groups of people, their prejudices, and this story.
In Chapter One, the author acquaints the reader with the house that Virginia, a young Indigenas child, lives in. Virginia's family...more
In Chapter One, the author acquaints the reader with the house that Virginia, a young Indigenas child, lives in. Virginia's family...more
This book is about overcoming and discovering all that you can do, it is based off of a true story- Maria Virginia Farinango told her story to Laura Resau who molded it into this beautiful novel.
When you begin to realize that it only took place a decade or two ago, you realize that things like child selling and slavery still go on. Virginia is an indigenous girl living with her family in a small village in Ecuador. When she is only 6, her parents sell her to a rich mestiizo (Spanish) family with...more
When you begin to realize that it only took place a decade or two ago, you realize that things like child selling and slavery still go on. Virginia is an indigenous girl living with her family in a small village in Ecuador. When she is only 6, her parents sell her to a rich mestiizo (Spanish) family with...more
If this had merely been fiction, it would have just been okay, but it’s actually based on the life of one of the co-authors and that made all the difference. Virginia was born in an impoverished village in Ecuador. Apparently, many young girls are taken/sold (the lines are very unclear) by/to members of the ruling class. Virginia was one of these girls. She was taken away as a seven year old to be a maid and care for the infant of one of the Spanish families. She stays with them for many, many y...more
What a beautiful story! I was made aware of issues about indigenous cultures in South America by my sister-in-law so I was immediately drawn to this book when I read the description. The protagonist, Virginia, shows us a strength of spirit and determination to make her dreams come true that most of us lack. She makes a great heroine struggling against an oppressive society and captors that mistreat and abuse her. If Virginia can keep faith in a better future in the face of the hopelessness of he...more
Oct 24, 2011
Alison Fling
added it
Although at first I had my doubts about the novel Queen of the Water, I soon found that I couldn’t even put it down. I am not exactly easy-to-please when it comes to literature, but throughout this book I realized that Laura Resau is an author who can tailor quite well to the needs, or wants, of any readers. This particular novel is based off a true story about a young Ecuadorian girl who is given away from her family at a very young age. In this time period and culture, all of the indigenous f...more
An amazing read! From looking at the cover of this book, I did not think I would like this book but I was immediately drawn into the story as I felt for Virginia and the issues she was facing. Virginia grew up in poverty but like everyone she always dreamed big. I was amazed at the determination and the strength she had and how she "built up a wall" to protect herself from the evils that were inflicted upon her. It seemed to me, that she drew strength from the harsh conditions that surrounded he...more
Head to your trusty thesaurus when you're trying to describe this book because you'll need plenty of adjectives to express just how excellent it is. This story of a seven-year-old indigenous girl whose parents allow her to be hired out as a servant to another family in Ecuador is heart-rending and riveting. Although Virginia has ambitions for the future and has been assured that she can visit her family each month, that never happens. Over time, she loses her language and cultural connections as...more
1 like · like · see review
Although teens may not initially be excited to read this story about a culture very different from our own, I thought this was a fantastic book that kept my attention from cover to cover. The story is set in Ecuador and spans the life of main character Virgina from age 7 until her teen years. Virginia is an indigena in her country and as such is expected to be poor and ignorant, which is the case for her parents. When Virginia is 7, she is "sold" (She is narrating the story and never fully under...more
Even though it's fiction, it's based on a true story. There is an author's note that details Maria Virginia Farinango's life and subsequent meeting with Resau to write the book-- an eight year process.
The story is wonderfully crafted to show the growth and spirit of a girl, Virginia, whose birth into the Ecuadorian indigenas class shaped her life's path. She was "sold" into the mestizo class to work and care for a couple's baby, only to be enslaved, beaten and controlled. Yet, her spirit prevai...more
The story is wonderfully crafted to show the growth and spirit of a girl, Virginia, whose birth into the Ecuadorian indigenas class shaped her life's path. She was "sold" into the mestizo class to work and care for a couple's baby, only to be enslaved, beaten and controlled. Yet, her spirit prevai...more
Resau succeeds in depicting so many complex aspects of Virginia's story--conflicting emotions, confused identity, a sort of Stockholm syndrome, and the cultural tensions within Ecuador. I found the conflict Virginia faces as she tries to find her place in the world after being cut off from her family, raised in a mestizo (upper-class) home, and taught to revile her heritage compelling and heartbreaking. But Virginia is an incredible person--intelligent, ambitious, innovative, hard working, and a...more
I really liked this book, but I'd only give it a 3.5 for a few reasons. Let's start with the good.
I love that Virginia never gives up. She stubbornly keeps creating a path for her own self. She gets stuck in captive for a while, not sure what to break free or stay with what's familiar to her. Her life mirrors many children's lives in the sense that she deals with the pressures of physical beauty, finding her own place, and coming to terms with her heritage and her future. I think she's rather lu...more
I love that Virginia never gives up. She stubbornly keeps creating a path for her own self. She gets stuck in captive for a while, not sure what to break free or stay with what's familiar to her. Her life mirrors many children's lives in the sense that she deals with the pressures of physical beauty, finding her own place, and coming to terms with her heritage and her future. I think she's rather lu...more
I just finished an amazing book called the Queen of Water. The Queen of Water is about a young girl named Virginia Farinango who was born in an Andean village in Ecuador. Virginia lives with her poor family in a small mud hut. In her village it is not uncommon to work in fields all day long, even as a child. It is also very common to be called longa tonta (stupid Indian) by members of the ruling class of mestizos, or Spanish descendants. When, at the time, seven-year-old Virginia is taken from h...more
"She'll do. We'll take her."
Suddenly, I understand that I have no say in this. Not a shred of power. The decision has been made... This is happening whether I like it or not.
Virginia was born in a large but poor family in an Andean mountain village in Ecuador. Society is divided sharply between the working class indigenas, or native Indian people, and the ruling mestizos, or descendents of Spanish conquerors. At age 7, Virginia is taken to the town of Kuna Yaku to be a servant to a mestizo famil...more
Suddenly, I understand that I have no say in this. Not a shred of power. The decision has been made... This is happening whether I like it or not.
Virginia was born in a large but poor family in an Andean mountain village in Ecuador. Society is divided sharply between the working class indigenas, or native Indian people, and the ruling mestizos, or descendents of Spanish conquerors. At age 7, Virginia is taken to the town of Kuna Yaku to be a servant to a mestizo famil...more
Laura Resau is one of my favorite authors. She has a knack for taking the reader and placing them squarely in a different world, be it Mexico or France. In this book, she helps to tell her co-author's story of growing up as an unpaid servant in Ecuador. Her protagonist, Maria Virginia, is vivisima, or lively. She needs every bit of her spark to survive living in a household where she is despised and abused. Maria Virginia manages to teach herself to read and quietly resists being treated like a...more
In this poignant, heart gripping story, author Laura Resau collaborates with Maria Virginia Farinango to tell the story of Farinango's life growing up in Ecuador. Virginia was born in a small Andean village where she worked in the fields, even as a small child. When she was 7 years old, she was taken from her indigenous village to work as a servant for a mestizo couple. Never realizing the hardships that would be hers in the years to come, Virginia grows accustomed to the luxuries of mestizo lif...more
I'm a huge fan of Laura Reseau; I love how she writes for young people about different countries and cultures. I also used to work in Ecuador. So I was thrilled to find her latest, THE QUEEN OF WATER, a novel co-written with Maria Virginia Farinango, an Ecuadorian woman. The novel is largely based on Farinango's amazing story of what it was like to grow up as an indigena, from a small village in the Andes, and how she became literally enslaved by a mestizo family who used her as a maid and nanny...more
The Queen of Water by Laura Resau was a very well written story that should not be a teen fiction because it touches on so many issues that children, teens, adults, and elderly people go through every day in life. We follow Virginia from the time she was a little girl in her village trying to find ways to get food and not knowing much about the world outside her village to her literally becoming some type of slave to a couple after said couple tricked her parents into giving her away, to her wan...more
When Laura Resau met Maria Virginia Farinango in Ecuador, two strong women collided to create this beautiful novel. Based on Virginia's actual experiences, this is the story of many marginalized young women in Ecuador. I learned from this novel that it is customary for indigenous families to give up their daughters to work as maids and caretakers for wealthier families. Because the indigenous families feel they have few rights, their daughters are often stolen. Virginia is one of these stolen ch...more
I couldn't put this book down. It is a thoroughly engrossing story based on fact. I knew very little about Ecuador, but came away with a better understanding of the tensions between the races in Ecuadorian society. The story, which takes place in the 1980s, is about Virginia, an indigenous Indian (Inca heritage) girl who, at the age of seven, is given by her family to a Mestizo (Spanish heritage) couple to work as a servant. For the next eight years she is basically a slave to them. The story of...more
The Queen of Water
An inspiring story
What would you do if your parents gave you away to a family that you have never met before? What would you do if you didn’t know if you would ever see them again? This is what happened to Virginia Farinango who described her childhood in the autobiography The Queen of Water, which mostly takes place in the 1980s. Virginia Farinango and the author Laura Resau describe how Virginia’s childhood was ruined in Equador.
At age 7, rebellious Virginia is sold to a r...more
An inspiring story
What would you do if your parents gave you away to a family that you have never met before? What would you do if you didn’t know if you would ever see them again? This is what happened to Virginia Farinango who described her childhood in the autobiography The Queen of Water, which mostly takes place in the 1980s. Virginia Farinango and the author Laura Resau describe how Virginia’s childhood was ruined in Equador.
At age 7, rebellious Virginia is sold to a r...more
I loved this book, which is co-written by an experienced author and the Ecuadorian woman whose story is told in fictional form. Maria Virginia Farinango was born into a poor, indigenous family in the Andes. The book tells the story of how Virginia was given away to a mestizo couple (mixed race group with higher status than indigenous persons), how she survived this abusive situation while learning many things, and how she reclaimed the initiative in her life and pursued an education that was not...more
Laura Resau collaborated with Maria Virginia Farinango to tell Virginia's true story. Virginia was born in a small Andean village in Ecuador to impoverished indigenous people who again must send another child to live with a a rich family of Spanish ancestry who promise they will train their seven year old daughter to become their paid servant. However, neither Virginia or her parents see the money and in fact, Virginia doesn't even see her family for many years. Virginia is exploited as an inden...more
I was going to give this 4 stars, but then I realized that there's no reason to be stingy with a book like this. It's a true story, guided into being by a really good author (Laura Resau helps Maria Virginia Farinango get it all down on paper). It was completely and totally engrossing. I know because I stayed up to read it. Then once I finally finished it, I couldn't stop thinking about it, so stayed awake for a good hour. I'm exhausted today, but it was the first thing I thought about when I wo...more
This is a moving novel based on a true story, about a young girl named Virginia, born in poverty in an Andean village in Ecuador in the 1980s. She is indigenas, a class of native people, Indian descendants, but looked down upon by the mestizos, Spanish descendants. When she is seven years old, she is taken from her parents to become a servant for a mestizo couple. Although she likes the conveniences of her new life, she is frequently beaten by the woman, and she is never taken back to her villag...more
Apr 17, 2011
Melody
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommended to Melody by:
Wendy Burton
Shelves:
burton-browbeating
This is both an extraordinary story and an extraordinarily well-written one. The book tell the true story of Virginia, who is more or less sold into slavery when she's only seven, and what happens to her over the course of the next ten or so years. This is not a long-ago story, either.
Parts of it are very hard to read, especially if one is easily bruised by gratuitous cruelty. Parts of it are like what one imagines surfing on the back of a dolphin would be like, purely joyful. There are a lot of...more
Parts of it are very hard to read, especially if one is easily bruised by gratuitous cruelty. Parts of it are like what one imagines surfing on the back of a dolphin would be like, purely joyful. There are a lot of...more
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I'm the author of the young adult novels The Queen of Water, Red Glass, What the Moon Saw, The Indigo Notebook, The Ruby Notebook , The Jade Notebook, and the middle-grade novel Star in the Forest. I grew up in Maryland, then moved around for ten years (as student, ESL teacher, and anthropologist), making my home in New Orleans; Aix-en-Provence, France; Oaxaca, Mexico; Tucson; and now, Fort Colli...more
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“And I feel like the Queen of Water. I feel like water that transforms from a flowing river to a tranquil lake to a powerful waterfall to a freshwater spring to a meandering creek to a salty sea to raindrops gentle on your face to hard, stinging hail to frost on a mountaintop, and back to a river again.”
—
7 people liked it
“I see that if you try to fit someone in a box, she might slip through the seams like water and become her own river.”
—
3 people liked it
More quotes…
Apr 14, 2011 09:42pm
it's suicide dont do it
Jan 21, 2013 07:02pm