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Migrant

by Maxine Trottier

Book list In a migrant-family story rarely told, this touching picture book stays true to a young child's viewpoint. Anna travels north to Canada from Mexico every year with her German Mennonite family, who make their living by picking crops. Simple lyrical words and uncluttered, childlike, mixed-media illustrations portray Anna and her parents in the fields, their backs bent under the hot sun, while her older brothers and sisters dip and rise, dip and rise over the vegetables. After work, at the grocery store, Anna feels others' stares and listens to words she doesn't understand. In the soft-toned, pastel-touched pictures, Anna, who longs to stay in one place, imagines herself as a jackrabbit or a bee in the fields (not a worker bee, though), and at night, she is like a kitten, sharing a bed with her sisters. Without a heavy message, this sensitive offering captures a small child's experience of constant upheaval as she flies like a feather in the wind. A long final note fills in more facts about Anna's unique migrant group of Germans.--Rochman, Hazel Copyright 2010 Booklist

From Booklist, Copyright © American Library Association. Used with permission.

School Library Journal Gr 2-5-This beautifully written story tells of a girl who belongs to a group of Mennonites who moved to Mexico in the 1920s, but still migrate to Canada annually to labor in the fields. Anna wishes she could stay in one place, to "be like a tree with roots sunk deeply into the earth" so that she could have stability and see the seasons change. Instead, readers get a glimpse into the child's musings as she compares her family to migrating geese, butterflies, or bees. The artist's mixed-media renditions of Anna imagining herself as a rabbit or her siblings as kittens and puppies are priceless. Even the geese wear tiny kerchiefs and hats as they soar through the air. There is a sense of childlike whimsy as well as deep longing conveyed through the illustrations, while the language of the text is rich with similes and descriptive words. Background information about this sect of Mennonites and migrant workers in general appears at the back of the book.-Maggie Chase, Boise State University, ID (c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

(c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

School Library Journal Anna compares herself to a bird, a jack rabbit, a bee and a kitten as her German-speaking family from Mexico travels to Canada for work. She longs to be like a tree with permanent roots. Soft-hued illustrations with a Mennonite quilt motif lend a dreamlike longing to Anna's story. (c) Copyright 2012. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

(c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.