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“Altman’s first picture book provides an affecting and ultimately hopeful look at a transient way of living that will be unfamiliar to most of her audience. Sanchez’s richly textured acrylic paintings deftly portray the arduous daily routine of migrant workers as well as the wide range of Amelia’s emotions.”

—Publishers Weekly

“What will stay with kids is the physical sense of what it’s like to work and move all the time. . . The yearning in the story is palpable: the dream of what many long for and others take for granted — a settled home, white and tidy, with a fine old shade tree growing in the yard. Security.”

—Booklist

“A spare, unsentimental, empathetic picture of a quietly courageous child making the best of difficult necessity. Sanchez provides handsome acrylic paintings in a monumental, fresco—like style that emphasizes these characters’ dignity and humanity.”

—Kirkus Reviews

“An important title for any library serving migrant populations, Amelia’s Road should be a welcome addition almost anywhere. Useful in a variety of educational units, it works equally well as a read—aloud or read—alone.”

—School Library Journal

Amelia’s Road

Written by Linda J. Altman
Illustrated by Enrique O. Sánchez
Published by Lee & Low Books

Amelia Luisa Martinez hates roads. Los caminos, the roads, take her migrant worker family to fields where they labor all day, to schools where no one knows Amelia’s name, and to bleak cabins that are not home.

Amelia longs for a beautiful white house with a fine shade tree in the yard, where she can live without worrying about los caminos again. Then one day, Amelia discovers an “accidental road.” At its end she finds an amazing old tree reminiscent of the one in her dreams. Its stately sense of permanence inspires her to put her own roots down in a very special way.

The richly colored illustrations bring to life the landscape of California’s Central Valley farmland. Amelia’s Road is an inspirational tale about the importance of home.

También disponible en Español, El Camino de Amelia.

Primary ISBN:
Publication Date: September 1993
Available As: Paperback
Picture Book , Age 05 or older

Community Represented:

Themes: , , , , , , ,

Setting: United States (California)

Character's Place in the Immigration Journey: Unknown Arrival

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Source: Lee & Low Books