The best stories, and the best authors, in my opinion, show you the true human experience underlying an issue, situation, or place & time. Julia Alvarez’s latest novel for young people, Return to Sender, is just such a story by just such an author.
After Tyler’s father is injured in a tractor accident, his family is forced to hire migrant Mexican workers to help save their Vermont dairy farm. Tyler isn’t sure what to make of this situation and of these workers and their daughters. The Mexican family lives in constant fear of being discovered by the authorities and sent back to the poverty they left behind in Mexico.
Alternating narrators between Tyler and Mari (the oldest daughter), Alvarez weaves a beautiful story full of both grief and hope, challenging the notion that there are easy answers to the complex issues in life.
- Posted by Cori