This book gives a realistic portrayal of the child in a migrant worker family. It begins with a young girl lamenting about her disdain for roads (los caminos). These roads take her away from familiarity and to fields where her family works in fields all day. These roads take her to new places and new people where people do not know her. She struggles to find a place she can call home. One day, she stumbles upon an old tree where its permanence inspires her to bury some of her most cherished treasures.
While the nation's population consists of about 3-5 million migrant workers (many from Carribean, Mexico, South America--- many US born citizens), this is a great book to introduce children to different families currently living in the US. As there are three primary streams of migrant workers (west, central, east), American geography could be incorporated throughout the reading. I would give each student a map where we could track Amelia's story as a class. Individually, students could research other topics associated with migrant work and add to their map appropriately. It would also be very easy to lead an accountable talk during the read-aloud because the content is very empathetically accessible (lonlieness, cherished items, feeling of "home").
No comments:
Post a Comment