1930 or 2025?

ARMED MEN
in military uniforms
with guns and clubs
rounded up four hundred people
niños
viejitos
mamás
amigos
like cattle.

A Sea of Lemon Trees is a middle grade book written in verse and very much like another middle grade book I enjoyed, Brown Girl Dreaming, it should win many many awards.

In dozens of mostly 1-2 page poems, a relatively unknown event plays out in lovely prose.
Before this book, I had never heard of the Lemon Grove Incident. Separate but Unequal rears its ever-present head, this time in a Mexican American community in California. Roberto and his friends have their entire existence upended for no reason other than hatred. They find a way to fight back even though their chances of winning are dismal.

The story is told well, the people become real, and I was very invested in how it would all turn out for them. I learned so much about their daily lives and traditions. This book is extremely timely and I would recommend it for young readers as well as adults.

Hard to believe this happened almost 100 years ago, and in some ways, we are here once again. Maybe this time, we will learn. Maybe.

Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Children's Publishing Group for providing me with an eARC of this book to read and provide an unbiased review.

I knew nothing of this incident which isn't shocking since there is little to no information about certain events that affect minorities in our history books. I didn't know what to expect especially how it was written, however the writing was easy to follow along and even though there wasn't a lot of extra detail I was able to feel how Roberto felt. I was about to imagine what life was like, how scary this must have been. I appreciate stories like this so that I can teach my son, and it's so daunting that there are similar things like this happening today. I think it's a great read for not only children, but adults. I can guarantee you that not a lot of people know about it, and I feel like as writers it is important to bring stories. like this in front.

I love turning to middle grade and novels-in-verse to learn about history! And this story, set in 1930s San Diego area, was new to me and incredibly prescient.

Roberto Alvarez is a 12-year-old boy who is suddenly caught in the crossfires of racial injustice at the hands of the school district. Will he and his friends really have to leave their school, and instead attend mixed grade classes in a barn? When the community bands together to fight the segregation, the world Roberto knows is destabilizes, and everyone is now at risk. Yet despite egregious attempts at intimidation, this young man and his family demonstrate great courage, and stand up for the rights of the children in their community.

I did find that there is quite a lot of Spanish included that is beyond what I could puzzle out through context. I appreciate that including the family's own language enriches the text, and also puts the reader in a position of not fully understanding all that’s going on, just like Roberto is experiencing, but I do feel it may become frustrating for young readers, which would be a shame.

I learned that a corrido is a traditional Mexican folk ballad, usually recounting stories of historical events. In that respect, this was a perfect subtitle!

I found the author’s note particularly gripping, and am so very grateful to have had the opportunity to learn about Roberto Alvarez and his family. Thank you to María Dolores Águila for penning this beautifully-told ‘Corrido,’ and to NetGalley and Roaring Brook Press for granting me the privilege to read and review this lovely gem.

"A Sea of Lemon Trees" is a historical fiction novel in verse depicting the segregation of Mexican and Mexican-American children in a school district in California during the Great Depression. The Lemon Grove incident was a result of a larger movement to deport Mexican nationals and their American born children to Mexico, many times without due process. In July 1930 students from the Mexican community were told they could no longer go to the grammar school but would have to go to a separate "Americanization" school in a repurposed old barn. In a powerful act of resistance many of the parents sent their children to their old school only for them to be refused entry. A community group was formed to fight for readmittance and ultimately one child was chosen to represent all of the others in a court case. That child was 12 year old Roberto Alvarez. Maria Dolores Aguila presents this story with Roberto as the narrator. "A Sea of Lemon Trees" is a very interesting and moving look at a period of segregation history that is not widely known or discussed in school curricula. It would make a nice companion read to Christy Hale's bilingual picture book: Todos Iguales/All Equal, depicting the same event.

Written in verse, this beautiful story takes place in Oklahoma during the Great Depression, after the Mexican Revolution. The story is based on true events, and is told from Roberto Alvarez' point of view. The writing is evocative, mixing Spanish phrases, cultural events, and baked goods throughout the story. The visual word play is also enticing, as the author stretches words longer, or uses a short paragraph to convey something succinctly. I was drawn into the events, and was surprised to learn that a case had been brought up to strike down segregation before Brown vs. Board of Education.

I highly recommend this book for schools and libraries, and for all ages.

Even though I grew up in Southern California and am passionate about immigration issues, I was unaware that some California school districts chose to segregate schools. A Sea of Lemon Trees performed powerfully as a historical fiction read--it educated me, it touched my heart, it made me want to do better/be better, and it made me want to share this book with as many people as possible. It also made me look more closely at my own childhood, with lemon orchards bracketing the low income apartments where we lived for a time, and casual usage of the slurs "beaner" and "wetback" prevalent in society around me. That was the 1990's, but I question how much we have progressed since then.

The fictionalized, poetic voice of Roberto Alvarez is vibrant and courageous, but it’s also very real, putting the reader into the small shoes of a child asked to be courageous and speak in court for himself, his friends, and his community. Reading this as adult, my predominant reaction was compassion laced with outrage. Childhood is challenging. Being a voice for a whole community when you are only 12 is so much to ask of a child.

The book itself was solidly plotted, well-researched, and extremely well-written. I will eagerly add A Sea of Lemon Trees to our library, and am campaigning for its inclusion in our Cover to Cover middle grade reading challenge. I will eagerly read anything else María Dolores Águila writes.

I love middle grade novels with depth and this definitely hits the mark. A young Mexican boy is naive and unaware of racial tensions brewing towards his community until one day he finds he’s no longer allowed to attend his school simply because of his skin color.

Based on the true story of Robert Alvarez and the Lemon Grove incident, this novel written in verse tells the story of how one boy became the face of all the children who looked like him as they fight for equal access to education.

The author did a wonderful job showcasing Robert’s innocence slowly turning into awareness and then into bravery.

Perfectly diverse option for cultural awareness, empathy building, and exposure to different writing styles.

Robert Alvarez is the youngest and first one in his family born in the US. He is the future of his family. He works hard at school and never gets in trouble. Then the Lemon Grove School Board & the Chamber of Commerce create a separate school for all the Mexican children. It is in a barn and run by one teacher. Robert’s parent refuse to let him go to school in a barn. The Mexican community rallies and does fund raisers in order to earn enough money for a lawyer and choose Roberto as the lead plaintiff in the lawsuit against the school board. Unfortunately, many families are deported before the hearing, including his best friend. Roberto is their future and his family/community wins!

Wow! I had no idea any of this happened. I really enjoy verse novels and I really enjoyed this one. So much was on Roberto shoulders and how brave he was! I am glad the author talked about the whole incident at the end of the novel and also told about her history! This is going to be an important middle grade read!