reformadeflorida Book Reviews

Book Review: When You Get to the Other Side

“When you get to the other side” Mariana Osorio Gumá; Translated by Cecilia Weddell. Cinco Puntos Press (Lee & Low). 300 p. 2022.

Reviewed by: Alma Ramos-McDermott

Category: Adults

Rating: 5 stars

Emilia and her older brother Goyo had been raised by their grandmother after their mother died. Mamita had been struck by lightning when she a little girl, allowing her to see and hear things not from this world. She became a powerful curandera, and Emilia had been training to follow in her footsteps.

After she died, Emilia and Goyo were alone for months since their father and uncles crossed the border years earlier. Their only hope of survival was to join a group heading for the border, where they hoped to reunite with their father in Colorado. However, after they made it across the border and into the desert, they were separated. Traitorous guides allowed the men to be captured by the Border Patrol while the women were taken by a trafficking ring. Emilia was going to be a special favorite of the leader because of her young age. Goyo managed to avoid capture but, despite thirst, cold, and hunger, he was determined to make it across the desert to find his little sister.

Emilia and Goyo’s trials capture readers as their stories alternate between memories of Mamita and horrors in the desert. Many Mexican women disappear on their way to the United States, and the author sheds light on their possible fates. Crimes committed by Mexican cartels against more than 100,000 missing people continue today.

Note: This review was originally posted in You Decide: Should I read it or not?

Reproduced here as a courtesy of Alma Ramos-McDermott

reformadeflorida Book Reviews

Book Review: A Seed in the Sun

A Seed in the Sun, by Aida Salazar. Dial Books for Young Readers (Penguin Random House). 255 p. 2022.(Includes Author’s note and Resources). 

Reviewed by: Alma Ramos-McDermott

Category: Children (Recommended for 10-14 years old)

Rating: 5 stars

Lula and her farmworker family travel from labor camp to labor camp performing back-breaking work under a hot California sun. Their work lives consist of little pay, no breaks, and squalid bedbug-filled hovels. In 1965 the family arrived in Delano to pick grapes. Lula was excited to start seventh grade, but Papá forced her to work. Though they had unknowingly walked into a strike organized by Filipino workers for better pay and working conditions, Papá refused to join. Day after day they crossed the picket lines until Mamá became very ill from pesticides. Papá couldn’t afford money for her care so, when he discovered union members could get free medical help, they joined the strike.

Lula was fascinated by the leadership qualities of co-union leader Dolores Huerta, while Papá would only listen to César Chávez because he believed men’s voices were more important than women’s. Through their struggles to survive the strong-armed tactics of the rich growers, which included arrests by crooked police and evictions, Lula worked to keep her dream alive. She hoped to make Papá proud and show him she was important.

In this story seeds are compared to farmworkers because seeds are strong, hold the memory of those who came before, become something new, and give new life. Though held down for decades by growers and crushed into the soil, farmworkers are seeds fighting to grow and survive. Having worked as a librarian with migrant farmworker families for years, I find it sad the battle for their rights continues.

Note: This review was originally posted in You Decide: Should I read it or not?

Reproduced here as a courtesy of Alma Ramos-McDermott.

reformadeflorida Book Reviews

Book Review: Singing with Elephants

Singing with Elephants by Margarita Engle, Penguin Random House (Viking Books), 2022.

Reviewed by: Alma Ramos McDermott

Category: Children (Recommended for 10-14 years old)

Rating: 5 stars

Oriol misses her grandmother and Cuba. She, her parents and older sister moved to California to get special treatment for her grandmother’s diabetes, but it didn’t work. Due to trouble mastering English, she’s bullied at school and has learned to keep herself closed to others. She can be herself with the animals she helps her veterinarian father to care for, as she remembers Cuba and time spent with her beloved grandmother.

On one of her daily walks she meets a friendly woman named Gabriela Mistral, the first Latin American winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature, who helps her learn how to turn thoughts into poetry. Oriol is thrilled when she meets a friendly elephant who gives birth to twins, as spending time with them, writing poetry and singing with their elephant voices helps her feel better. Unfortunately their rich owner has other plans for the family. He believes elephants exist for his pleasure, so decides to take one of the twins to train for his own use. Without nourishment and love from its mother, Oriol knows the baby elephant will die. Can an eleven-year-old girl use her newly found voice to convince others they need to help her save its life?

Oriol’s words and thoughts flow through Margarita Engle’s poetic style of writing. As she learns to shape her poetic voice, and sing the song of elephants, young readers will also be excited to do so and learn how to sing too.

Includes “Author’s note,” “Gabriela Mistral’s poetry for children,” and “Further reading.”


Note: This review was originally posted in You Decide: Should I Read it or Not?.

Reproduced here as a courtesy of Alma Ramos McDermott.