Return To Sender

Return to Sender by Julia Alvarez

The award winning adult's author Julia Alvarez turns her attention to a younger audience in Return to Sender, a tale of two children -- one an American farm boy and the other an illegally immigrated young Mexican girl -- who lives collide and change one another. 

Tyler's family makes their living through their dairy farm in Vermont until their livelihood is threatened by an accident that seriously injures his father.  In order to survive, they must find affordable help to keep the farm going.  The solution is a group of Mexican workers who come to live at their farm.  The Mexican family includes not just workers but also 3 young girls, including Mari, an 11 year old who is in Tyler's grade.  Tyler's family suspects that they are not legally in the country, but chooses make the difficult decision to keep them on. 

Through letters that Mari writes to relatives and third person observations, we learn of how Mari & her family came to the U.S., the fear that they live with and the disappearance of her mother over the past year.  Tyler's fears for his family and farm are revealed as well, as he worries that they must sell the farm. Tyler & Mari become close friends and find that their similarities are far greater than their differences.

Alvarez does a wonderful job in putting "faces" to the issue of immigration and helping readers understand that the people that they hear about on the news are real human beings with individual stories.  Through her story, one may learn about the reasons that immigrants often feel that they have few choices as well as the reasons that people in the United States may support their choice.  Ms. Alvarez clearly feels strongly about the issue and unfortunately, the book is very biased towards one point of view.  In my opinion, the book would have been strengthened by more attention being given to both sides of the story, making it clear to the reader that the issue has many complexities in which all parties must make hard choices. (I should add that I do not personally hold a strong opinion one way or the other on the immigration issue -- I am attempting to look at this regarding the strength of the story)

The book is made compelling by an exciting plot.  Will the Mexicans be caught by the immigration authorities?  If so, will they be deported?  Will Tyler's family be punished for hiring them?  And, where is Mari's mother?  What happened to her?  All of these questions are answered in a realistic but exciting manner that keeps the reader engaged.

I would like to read an adult book by Ms. Alvarez to make a comparison between her writing style for adults and children.  In some sections, I felt that she used over simplistic language and expressions for her audience, which I would judge to be 9-13 year olds.  In other cases, the young characters make statements that seem to be unlikely to come from an 11 year old.  For instance, when Mari is surprised at the cost of a cup of coffee in a local cafe, she says "please believe me, those two dollars are not reaching my family" (p.61).  I am not sure if some of this is because of Alvarez' writing style or an attempt to reach young readers while also imparting serious information.

This book would be good a good choice for 4th through 7th graders learning about different cultures or about modern issues in America.  Because of the bias of the book, it would also be a good choice for a lesson on reading critically.