1. This book would fall under the category of a junior book, contemporary realism.
2. First he loses his grandfather. Next, a tragic farm accident permanently injures his father. Tyler thinks that he is going to lose a big piece of himself: his family farm. To save it, his parents hired Mexicans to come and work the farm at a price they can afford. Unfortunately, their existence is a matter of taboo, even though the three Mexican children are to attend the local school. Mexicans in Vermont is going to be difficult to ignore. However, Tyler and Mari, the oldest Mexican child, become friends and realize that they are not that different from each other.
3. critique
a. This book is politically motivated. The author’s opinions are implied on every page and the readers are meant to see her side of the argument. Making the Mexican children as average as the girl next door and the men as hard workers who are just trying to feed their family back home, the author makes you feel bad for the family. Surely there is a reason that the laws should be changed because both sides obviously benefit from the arrangement. Why not make it legal?
b. As a comparison, this book would be similar to “Uncle Tom’s Cabin.” In that book, the author used the power of a story to get readers to relate to black people as actual humans with compassion. This book is written with the same intent. The illegal Mexicans are written as reasonable people who are just trying to survive in this cruel and unjust world. However, there are differences: the slaves that Harriet Beecher Stowe was describing were not people who entered the country by knowingly breaking the law. Their existence was legal; whereas the Mexicans broke laws and entered the country illegally.
c. Mari’s musings in her journal talk about how shameful she feels being referred to as an “illegal alien.” “As for “alien,” I asked the teacher’s helper, and she explained that an alien is a creature from outer space who does not even belong on earth!” (p.21). She talks about how she is “waiting for the laws to change so I can visit my birthplace in Mexico and be able to come back into the United States again” (p. 18). Later, Mari tells of town meeting day where the town gets together to talk over the politics of the town. A character described as a mean old man, Mr. Rossetti, gets up and says that all illegal aliens should be arrested and sent back to Mexico (p. 188). However, Mr. Rossetti character changes into a more reasonable person when he starts to get to know the Mexican girls. He even ends up visiting them after they get deported in Mexico (legally, of course!)
4. a curriculum connection
As far as curriculum connections, I am positive that I would not assign this book as a class-wide read. This topic is too controversial and I would not want my students to think that I condone illegal immigration. I personally do not think it is ever a good idea to bring politics into the classroom if it can be avoided. I would put it in my classroom library; students could read it on their own if they wish. However, it could be connected to the social studies curriculum. We all have a responsibility to be law abiding citizens as we live together in a society.