20 April 2025 A SEA OF LEMON TREES: THE CORRIDO OF ROBERTO ALVAREZ by María Dolores Águila, Roaring Brook, September 2025, 304p., ISBN: 978-1-250-34261-4

 

“The doctrine of 'separate but equal' has no place in the field of public education. Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal."

– Chief Justice Earl Warren, Brown v Board of Education (1954)

 

“Hope” is the thing with feathers -

That perches in the soul -

And sings the tune without the words -

And never stops - at all”

– Emily Dickenson (1861)

 

Roberto Alvarez, the youngest of four siblings, is a twelve-year-old in La Mesa, California at the dawn of the Great Depression. He is a star student and fully bilingual, with great handwriting and perfect attendance at Lemon Grove Grammar School. 

 

“MRS. MARKLAND’S RULER THWAPS

against the chalkboard,

and everyone jumps,

like marionettes on strings.

Enrique! Mrs. Markland scolds. Mr. Green’s

office, now!

A sheepish smile spreads

across Enrique’s face

as he walks

s l o w l y

to the door

while Mrs. Markland

scowls and taps her foot.

To my left,

Mary and Socorro

hide their giggles

behind their hands.

That’s enough, students, scolds Mrs. Markland.

When I glance at my best friend, David,

he shrugs.

We go back to subtraction.

Look, whispers David. They’re sending him home.

My eyes follow

his index finger

through the window

as Enrique walks

toward the Mexican side of town,

la colonia.

Something about it

does not sit right,

but when Mrs. Markland calls my name,

I answer

the math problem

because that is

the only thing

I am sure of.

436.

 

DURING LUNCH

David and I trade burritos.

I saw him, says Carter, his mouth full. He was

playing around.

Nuh-uh, says Pancho, shaking his head. He

wasn’t!

What do you think, Roberto? asks Carter.

I shrug.

C’mon, Roberto, says Carter.

I didn’t see, I say.

Your nose was buried in a book, laughs Pancho.

I don’t think they should have sent him home, says

David.

What do you mean? I ask.

David, Pancho, and Carter

look at each other.

They only send the Mexican kids home, says

Carter. The other kids always come back from

the office. Haven’t you noticed?

I pick at the brown paper

wrapped around my burrito

as I think about this.

He’s right.”

 

Back in 1930, in addition to the rank prejudice, Mexican Americans were being scapegoated as being responsible for the country’s growing economic woes. To too many of the townspeople, Roberto and his friends are seen as “greasers,” “wetbacks,” and “beaners.” The school trustees decide to require the Hispanic students to leave the school and, instead, go study in a shack (la caballeriza) on “their” side of Main Street. 

 

Roberto’s parents keep him out of school. They protest the change and organize a community group to fight it. Through the Mexican Consulate, they acquire legal counsel and support. American-born Roberto is chosen as the lead plaintiff in a planned lawsuit. Roberto himself comes to the conclusion that,

 

“At school, they told us we were all equal…I 

start, unsure of what to say next.

My lips are dry 

in the cool night air

when it finally comes to me

and la caballeriza is not equal.”

 

But pressure is forcefully applied to the Mexican-American community to accept  the planned segregation. Threats and intimidation are followed with deportations, school expulsions, and loss of government benefits. (Sound familiar?) It is all too much for some parents, who reluctantly send their elementary students to the barn-like “school.” Finally, Roberto gets his day in court:

 

IT’S TIME TO  TELL MY STORY

With trembling knees,

I rise from my chair.

I put one hand on a Bible

and the other over my heart.

Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but

the truth, so help you God?

The courtroom is quiet.

My voice is loud and clear.

I will tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but

the truth, so help me God.

 

A SEA OF LEMON TREES: THE CORRIDO OF ROBERTO ALVAREZ is a must-have for collections serving elementary and middle schoolers. Based upon America’s first successful school desegregation court case (Roberto Alvarez v. the Board of Trustees of the Lemon Grove School District), we can imagine this student making American history. It’s a verse novel that is a compelling and important piece of historical fiction. 

 

In the process of learning this history, young readers will pick up dozens of Spanish words and read lots about Mexican American meals and holiday customs. An afterword explains how, back in the 1930s, contempt for Mexicans led to hundreds of thousands of Mexican nationals and their American-born children being forcefully and illegally deported without due process. 

 

Yep. The prejudice and hate never ends.

 

Richie Partington, MLIS

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