Tag: Salazar

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.