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Book ID/图书代码： 12560508B25960

English Summary/英文概要： After Tyler’s father is injured in a tractor accident, his family is forced to hire migrant Mexican workers to help save their Vermont farm from foreclosure. Tyler isn’t sure what to make of these workers. Are they undocumented? And what about the three daughters, particularly Mari, the oldest, who is proud of her Mexican heritage but also increasingly connected her American life. Her family lives in constant fear of being discovered by the authorities and sent back to the poverty they left behind in Mexico. Can Tyler and Mari find a way to be friends despite their differences?

In a novel full of hope, but no easy answers, Julia Alvarez weaves a beautiful and timely story that will stay with readers long after they finish it.

Chinese Summary/中文概要： 一部關於文化差異及友誼的青少年小說！

當Tyler的父親因工作受傷後，家裡務農的工作急需外力來幫忙，家人決定聘請墨西哥裔的工人來挽救農地避免遭到徵收。暫代一家之主的Tyler不確認自己是否能與這些工人相處的來，尤其是和這家人中大女兒Mari。Mari雖然必須異地從事粗重的活以求溫飽，而且常受到當地人歧視，但她還是對於自己出身相當感到自豪，以身為墨西哥人為榮。
但是，現實還是殘酷的，他們雖然幫助Tyler一家保住資產，但一家人非法移民身份還是躲不了法律的制裁…而Tyler與Mari也由這段時間的相處及溝通，對彼此的背景及文化也有更深的認識，Tyler是否願意在此時伸出援手幫助Mari一家免於被遣送的命運？(VL)

Awards/获奖情况：美國圖書館學會 Pura Belpre作者奬得主！

WINNER 2010 - Pura Belpre Author Award Winner

（美國圖書館學會專為拉丁兒童文學作家所設立的獎項） For more information, please visit:
http://www4.uwm.edu/clacs/aa/index.cfm

WINNER 2010 - ALA Notable Children’s Book
WINNER 2010 - NCSS/CBC Notable Children’s Trade Books in the Field of Social Studies

Praises & Reviews:
After Tyler’s father’s accident, his family hires undocumented Mexican workers in a last-ditch effort to keep their Vermont farm. Despite his reservations, Tyler soon bonds with a worker’s daughter, who is in his sixth-grade class. His problems seem small compared to Mari’s: her family fears deportation, and her mother has been missing since re-entering the States months ago. While this novel is certainly issue-driven, Alvarez (Before We Were Free) focuses on her main characters, mixing in Mexican customs and the touching letters that Mari writes to her mother, grandmother and even the U.S. president. Readers get a strong sense of Tyler’s growing maturity, too, as he navigates complicated moral choices. Plot developments can be intense: Mari’s uncle lands in jail, and her mother turns out to have been kidnapped and enslaved during her crossing. Some characters and sentiments are over-the-top, but readers will be moved by small moments, as when Tyler sneaks Mari’s letter to her imprisoned uncle, watching as the man puts his palm on the glass while Tyler holds up the letter from the other side. A tender, well-constructed book. Ages 8-12. (Jan.)---Publishers Weekly

Although going into the sixth grade may have its challenges, Tyler has become somewhat hardened to those since his father’s farming accident has left him handicapped and in need of more help than his son can provide. With his older brother going off to college, Tyler feels even more burdened by the running the farm than when his role was just that of second son and younger brother. On awakening one morning to find new faces occupying the trailer where hired help has stayed in the past, the young farmer is both relieved and confused. Who are these people? Where did they come from? Will they be able to save the farm? Are they even legal? Thus, begins the saga of lots of gray areas and little black and white in this young adult novel expressing sympathy for illegal immigrants. Alvarez alternates voices from chapter to chapter, giving readers varying views of some difficult questions. Tyler’s mom is a teacher. His father has been successfully managing a farm that is a legacy from generations back. After the accident, there must be more hands, and financial means are limited. To add interest and empathy, alternating chapters are from the point of view of Mari, a daughter of one of the Mexican workers. Mari wants to stay in the United States, but her mother has returned to Mexico and has become lost to her family. Interwoven in the story of Tyler’s secure family structure is the dysfunction of Mari’s. Readers are also brought face to face with the cruelty of the "coyotes" that promise safe passage into the States, but instead steal money and make their own countrymen and women slaves. Because of some understated sexual situations, readers below eleven may lack the maturity to read this book.Also bothersome is the painting of ICE officers in entirely unpleasant colors when they enforce the law. However, older readers need to look at the realities occurring on both sides of the border, and both sides of the illegal immigrant question. Maybe the next generation will have some plausible answers. Reviewer: Janice DeLong ---Children’s Literature

About the Author/作者介绍： Julia Alvarez原籍多明尼加共和國，幼年移居美國。她承襲的西班牙語傳統為她的英語文學創作增添了濃烈的色彩。于1971年獲佛蒙特州米德爾伯裏學院(Middlebury College)學士學位，1975年獲錫拉丘斯大學(Syracus University)寫作專業碩士學位。她擔任佈雷德洛夫作家創作班(Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference)的教師，經常為學生講課。她還在菲利普斯‧安多瓦學院(Phillips Andover Academy)、佛蒙特大學(University of Vermont)、華盛頓哥倫比亞特區喬治華盛頓大學(George Washington University, Washington, D.C.)和伊利諾大學烏爾瓦納分校(University of Illinois at Urbana)任教。她目前在米德爾伯裏學院(Middlebury College)擔任訪問作家。
作品有小説《加西亞家的姑娘不再帶口音》(How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents)]、小説《蝴蝶時代》(In the Time of the Butterflies)、詩集《彼岸》(The Other Side)、《回歸故里：新舊詩集》(Homecoming: New and Collected Poems)、小説《我！》(YO!)、《以莎樂美的名義》(In The Name of Salome)、《守護內心的女人》(The Woman I Kept to Myself)等。

Format:TRADE PAPERBACK

Rights Status/版权销售情况：Simplified Chinese/简体中文：AVAILABLE

Complex/Traditional Chinese/繁体中文：AVAILABLE

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