The following are excerpts from Nancy Price Graff's review of Julia Alvarez's new novel Return to Sender taken from the Times Argus on January 11, 2009. To read the full article click here."Julia Alvarez's new children's novel, "Return to Sender," is so full of heartache that it almost weeps. Eleven-year-old Mari Cruz is Mexican, an illegal immigrant living on a dairy farm in Vermont, where her father and two uncles provide the labor that keeps the farm running. Her mother has been missing for many months after returning to Mexico to attend her father's funeral.
Mari's story is plot-driven, reflecting the poignant, helpless situation in which she and her family find themselves. For them, this rural Vermont farm is an oasis that offers temporary shelter but no sanctuary.Although the girls attend school, they are virtually imprisoned on the farm, along with their father and uncles, for fear of tipping off the authorities. Mari cannot even mail the many long, heartbreaking letters she writes to her mother and to her grandparents in Mexico because the letters might be traced back to the farm.
For the same reason, the family cannot stay in touch with relatives by phone or use it to help find Mari's mother. As Mari makes abundantly clear, their physical, social and cultural isolation and constant fear create a unique kind of hell that leaves them little to do except work hard and hope one day life will be better."
- Have you read this novel yet? If so, what are your impressions? Will you use it with your students?
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