Todos Iguales : All Equal by Christy Hale - ADVISABLE

Todos Iguales : All Equal by Christy Hale PICTURE BOOK, NON-FICTION Lee and Low, 2019, $20. 9780892394272

BUYING ADVISORY: EL (K-3), EL - ADVISABLE 

AUDIENCE APPEAL: AVERAGE

Anglo and Mexican children always attended the Lemon Grove School together. But, during the summer of 1930, parents in the community near San Diego learned of the school district's plan to segregate the Mexican American children and send them to a different, inferior school. They organized, hired lawyers and filed a lawsuit against the school board. One student, Roberto Alvarez, represented all the students - he spoke excellent English and did well in school, convincing the judge that the school board's efforts to isolate the Mexican American students in order to teach them better language skills were unfounded. The judge ruled in favor of the parents and children were once again allowed to learn together.

Christy Hale's non-fiction account of the Lemon Grove school is told in both Spanish and English. I loved that Spanish is first - the primary language of the book and that English is the translation. The illustrations are large and expressive and mirror the time period nicely. An important book for the Civil Rights section of your library.

Lisa Librarian