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Alejandria Fights Back! / ¡La Lucha de Alejandria!
An alternative cover edition for this ISBN can be found here.
Join nine-year-old Alejandria as she fights to save her neighborhood in this bilingual picture book!
For nine-year-old Alejandria, home isn't just the apartment she shares with Mami and her abuela, Tita, but rather the whole neighborhood. Home is the bakery where Ms. Beatrice makes yummy picos; the sidewalk where Ms. Alicia sells flowers with her little dog, Duende; and the corner store with friendly Mr. Amir.
But lately the city has been changing, and rent prices are going up. Many people in el barrio are leaving because they can no longer afford their homes, and For Sale signs are popping up everywhere. Then the worst thing happens: Mami receives a letter saying they'll have to move out too.
Alejandria knows it isn't fair, but she's not about to give up and leave. Join Alejandria as she brings her community together to fight and save their neighborhood!
Para Alejandria de nueve años, el hogar no es sólo el apartamento que comparte con Mami y su abuela, Tita, sino más bien todo el barrio. El hogar es la panadería donde la Sra. Beatrice hace unos ricos picos; la vereda donde la Sra. Alicia vende flores con su perrito, Duende; y la pulpería con el amistoso Sr. Amir.
Pero últimamente la ciudad ha estado cambiando, y los precios de alquiler están subiendo. Muchas personas en el barrio se están yendo porque ya no pueden costear sus hogares, y letreros anunciando “Se Vende” están apareciendo por todos lados. Entonces ocurre lo peor: Mami recibe una carta diciendo que ellas también tendrán que mudarse.
Alejandria sabe que no es justo, pero no está dispuesta a darse por vencida e irse. ¡Únete a Alejandria mientras ella reúne a su comunidad para luchar y salvar su barrio!
Join nine-year-old Alejandria as she fights to save her neighborhood in this bilingual picture book!
For nine-year-old Alejandria, home isn't just the apartment she shares with Mami and her abuela, Tita, but rather the whole neighborhood. Home is the bakery where Ms. Beatrice makes yummy picos; the sidewalk where Ms. Alicia sells flowers with her little dog, Duende; and the corner store with friendly Mr. Amir.
But lately the city has been changing, and rent prices are going up. Many people in el barrio are leaving because they can no longer afford their homes, and For Sale signs are popping up everywhere. Then the worst thing happens: Mami receives a letter saying they'll have to move out too.
Alejandria knows it isn't fair, but she's not about to give up and leave. Join Alejandria as she brings her community together to fight and save their neighborhood!
Para Alejandria de nueve años, el hogar no es sólo el apartamento que comparte con Mami y su abuela, Tita, sino más bien todo el barrio. El hogar es la panadería donde la Sra. Beatrice hace unos ricos picos; la vereda donde la Sra. Alicia vende flores con su perrito, Duende; y la pulpería con el amistoso Sr. Amir.
Pero últimamente la ciudad ha estado cambiando, y los precios de alquiler están subiendo. Muchas personas en el barrio se están yendo porque ya no pueden costear sus hogares, y letreros anunciando “Se Vende” están apareciendo por todos lados. Entonces ocurre lo peor: Mami recibe una carta diciendo que ellas también tendrán que mudarse.
Alejandria sabe que no es justo, pero no está dispuesta a darse por vencida e irse. ¡Únete a Alejandria mientras ella reúne a su comunidad para luchar y salvar su barrio!
48 pages, Hardcover
First published August 21, 2021
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
August 19, 2021
Not so often do we get stories about heroe
January 27, 2022
This story is empowering. Read it to my toddler and gifted copies to my nieces. We are all renters and this story gave me hope about housing rights.
The illustrator's artwork is beautiful.
The illustrator's artwork is beautiful.
February 18, 2023
The making of a community organizer. Good story just wished it didn’t make it seem as that one speech was all that was needed to make new laws.
Read
September 22, 2021Remember those essays you had to write every September about what you did over the summer? Usually they were pretty boring, either you did nothing or you did the same kinds of things your friends did- camp, summer school, watched TV. Imagine having a story to tell about how you helped your neighborhood resist evictions, though. That is exactly what Alejandria has.
I love how the story is framed in this familiar way. It begins with a friend who has been away for the summer asking Alejandria what she’s been up to and boy does she have a story to tell. Rising rents early in the summer meant families in Ale’s building were being forced to move out and evicted. Their building, and others in the neighborhood, were owned by an outside company who saw an opportunity to attract wealthier tenants. Alejandria noticed some of her friends packing up and her own family got an eviction notice.
This energizes Ale and she and her grandmother plug in with a tenant’s rights group. Ale’s mom is hesitant to make waves and is against speaking up. I think this tension is realistic and the fear of making things worse is real. I think this story works on several levels, first it reflects the reality of a lot of families and kids watching their neighborhoods and communities gentrify. I especially appreciate how this shows the cost of this gentrification (but if you work in a mostly white middle class community expect this book to make people uncomfortable), the community is in danger of unraveling. The book starts with Ale showing a map of her neighborhood and talking about the people and places that make it a vibrant, functioning community. This is what is at stake for her.
Second, the book is a roadmap of sorts or how kids and adults can take steps to protect their communities. While this story is particular to gentrification, the ideas behind organizing community are the same no matter what issue you take on. I also really appreciate the ideas presented here around organizing the people around you to show up to City Hall to speak at council meetings and also getting plugged into organizations working specifically on the issue at hand. Most books for kids that talk about “activism” are about making signs and showing up at marches they didn’t organize. That can be a piece of activism, but it’s often not the most effective and is typically only a piece of the whole strategy. I think we need to disabuse people of the idea that it’s enough to just hold a sign at some march. We need everyone showing up in places of power and decisions to demand their needs be met. We need people, even kids, showing up with organizations that are mobilizing, educating, and empowering communities. Collectively we’re powerful.
Trujillo is back with his lovely watercolor (guache?) illustrations. As always he captures the heart of the people and places he illustrates. The neighborhood is vibrant and the people diverse. His composition fits well with capturing the emotional core of the story. For example the spot illustrations showing Ale going to door to door in her building to get folks to come out to the City Hall meeting and speak up about what was going on. And the picture of Ale standing in her friend Julian’s apartment realizing he’s all packed up and moving out, disrupting the community she’s always known.
As I pointed out above, this book is going to make people who typically feel like they should be allowed to gentrify areas uncomfortable and maybe even angry. It’s a book that shows the folks they push out and the cost of their entitlement to places that aren’t actually theirs. This should not deter you from having these conversations and having this book on your shelves, but it might get some complaints and raised eyebrows. And for those communities on the frontlines of these issues, this is a book to encourage the youngest community members to use their voices.
I love how the story is framed in this familiar way. It begins with a friend who has been away for the summer asking Alejandria what she’s been up to and boy does she have a story to tell. Rising rents early in the summer meant families in Ale’s building were being forced to move out and evicted. Their building, and others in the neighborhood, were owned by an outside company who saw an opportunity to attract wealthier tenants. Alejandria noticed some of her friends packing up and her own family got an eviction notice.
This energizes Ale and she and her grandmother plug in with a tenant’s rights group. Ale’s mom is hesitant to make waves and is against speaking up. I think this tension is realistic and the fear of making things worse is real. I think this story works on several levels, first it reflects the reality of a lot of families and kids watching their neighborhoods and communities gentrify. I especially appreciate how this shows the cost of this gentrification (but if you work in a mostly white middle class community expect this book to make people uncomfortable), the community is in danger of unraveling. The book starts with Ale showing a map of her neighborhood and talking about the people and places that make it a vibrant, functioning community. This is what is at stake for her.
Second, the book is a roadmap of sorts or how kids and adults can take steps to protect their communities. While this story is particular to gentrification, the ideas behind organizing community are the same no matter what issue you take on. I also really appreciate the ideas presented here around organizing the people around you to show up to City Hall to speak at council meetings and also getting plugged into organizations working specifically on the issue at hand. Most books for kids that talk about “activism” are about making signs and showing up at marches they didn’t organize. That can be a piece of activism, but it’s often not the most effective and is typically only a piece of the whole strategy. I think we need to disabuse people of the idea that it’s enough to just hold a sign at some march. We need everyone showing up in places of power and decisions to demand their needs be met. We need people, even kids, showing up with organizations that are mobilizing, educating, and empowering communities. Collectively we’re powerful.
Trujillo is back with his lovely watercolor (guache?) illustrations. As always he captures the heart of the people and places he illustrates. The neighborhood is vibrant and the people diverse. His composition fits well with capturing the emotional core of the story. For example the spot illustrations showing Ale going to door to door in her building to get folks to come out to the City Hall meeting and speak up about what was going on. And the picture of Ale standing in her friend Julian’s apartment realizing he’s all packed up and moving out, disrupting the community she’s always known.
As I pointed out above, this book is going to make people who typically feel like they should be allowed to gentrify areas uncomfortable and maybe even angry. It’s a book that shows the folks they push out and the cost of their entitlement to places that aren’t actually theirs. This should not deter you from having these conversations and having this book on your shelves, but it might get some complaints and raised eyebrows. And for those communities on the frontlines of these issues, this is a book to encourage the youngest community members to use their voices.
October 14, 2022
This book isn't your typical children's book, but it doesn't make its message any less important. During the summer, rising rent prices causes families in Alejandria's building to move elsewhere. Wanting to do something to help, Ale and her grandma head to the library and community center for help on what they can do to help their neighbors. Ale's mother isn't too eager to fight back at first for fear that it will make things worse, but even she becomes inspired by Ale's courage to speak up for herself and her community. An empowering story that will encourage kids and adults to fight for the changes they want to see in their own communities.
Este libro no es el típico libro para niños, pero no hace que su mensaje sea menos importante. Durante el verano, el aumento de los precios de los alquileres hace que las familias del edificio de Alejandría se trasladen a otro lugar. Queriendo hacer algo para ayudar, Ale y su abuela se dirigen a la biblioteca y al centro comunitario en busca de ayuda sobre lo que pueden hacer para ayudar a sus vecinos. Al principio, la madre de Ale no está demasiado ansiosa por contraatacar por temor a que empeore las cosas, pero incluso ella se inspira en el coraje de Ale para hablar por sí misma y por su comunidad. Una historia enriquecedora que animará a niños y adultos a luchar por los cambios que quieren ver en sus propias comunidades.
Este libro no es el típico libro para niños, pero no hace que su mensaje sea menos importante. Durante el verano, el aumento de los precios de los alquileres hace que las familias del edificio de Alejandría se trasladen a otro lugar. Queriendo hacer algo para ayudar, Ale y su abuela se dirigen a la biblioteca y al centro comunitario en busca de ayuda sobre lo que pueden hacer para ayudar a sus vecinos. Al principio, la madre de Ale no está demasiado ansiosa por contraatacar por temor a que empeore las cosas, pero incluso ella se inspira en el coraje de Ale para hablar por sí misma y por su comunidad. Una historia enriquecedora que animará a niños y adultos a luchar por los cambios que quieren ver en sus propias comunidades.
May 4, 2023
Not a great story, but a pretty important topic. Alejandra is upset because the landlords are raising the rent or selling the building and they go to the city Council and she speaks up. That’s a good message. You should speak up.
July 4, 2024
7/2/2024 ~ An important topic. This book could provide a springboard to launch conversations. However, the resolution was a bit too pat and easy and the text is a bit didactic.
Partner this book with middle grade book Take Back the Block by Chrystal D. Giles.
Partner this book with middle grade book Take Back the Block by Chrystal D. Giles.
Want to Read
March 25, 2021Note: I accessed a digital review copy of this book through Edelweiss.
February 18, 2023
I enjoyed this book in Spanish. The author demonstrates how to unite for social action. At the end is a glossary of Nicaraguan and home-related words (like landlord & tenant.)
January 4, 2024
Themes of tenant/landlord relations, neighborhood gentrification, civic engagement
November 24, 2025
Good story; bilingual throughout
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews