✨A Sea of Lemon Trees (2025)

By Maria Dolores Aguila

4Rbooks                                5+/6                grades         5-8

Amazon                                 4.8/5               grade level   4-6

Goodreads                             4.24/5          

Common Sense Media            Not yet reviewed

273 pages

Synopsis

            It’s 1931 and Roberto goes to Lemon Grove Elementary School. He is the youngest in his family and they live near where his father works, a lemon tree grove. They are on the other side of the main road in the “la colonia,” a residential area of Mexicans. He is a typical 12-year-old but will soon find himself at the center of an important court case.

            One day he and his family learn that the school is refitting an old barn and turning it into a schoolhouse for all of the Mexican children in the neighborhood.  They will be segregated and have two teachers for 74 children across 4 grades. The students and their parents are not happy and decline to attend.  Instead, they decide to fight in court. The children are expelled for being truant.

            Roberto becomes the plaintiff in a lawsuit against the school district. They are asking to continue going to school as before, with all of the children integrated together. Roberto feels the weight of the entire community supporting him as he testifies in court. Much of the colonia has traveled to San Diego with him to be in the audience at the trial.

Parental Guidelines:    low

It’s the 1930’s and racism is prevalent.

There is an indirect reference to the KKK and a body being found.

One child and his mother are deported.

Some inappropriate names for Mexicans are used by people including wetback, greaser, and beaner.

Many Spanish words are used without definitions or context clues which could make the story challenging for many readers.

Recommendation

            This is a work of historical fiction. It is about an actual court case, Roberto Alvarez vs. Board of Trustees of the Lemon Grove School District in 1931. This case came before and helped to pave the way for future segregation cases like Mendez v. Westminster in 1946 and Brown v. Board of Education in 1954.     

            The author, a poet, chose to write the story in verse. As such, it is a quick and easy read, though the use of Spanish words and phrases throughout could prove challenging for younger, English only readers. Children, and adults, who have Mexican heritage and speak Spanish should enjoy the read and appreciate the sacrifices made by earlier immigrants.

            This would be an excellent classroom read, especially for a fourth-grade class in California studying state history. There are numerous areas for extension activities.

I purchased this book at Warwick's in La Jolla.