Lupe and Me - Hardcover

Susan becomes great friends with Lupe, the Mexican woman who keeps house and watches the girl while her mother works. Lupe shows her how to make Mexican foods and crafts, stuffs a pi?ata for Christmas and bakes special sweets for Susan's birthday. And each day Lupe teaches the child Spanish words, gracefully worked into the text so that readers, too, will easily absorb their meaning. Susan is understandably distressed when Lupe abruptly disappears without a trace; a letter eventually arrives, explaining Lupe's fear of la migra. Susan's mother, hitherto unaware of Lupe's status, explains that Lupe must have immigrated illegally. In the final chapter, entitled "Waiting," Susan does just that-hoping that her beloved Lupe will someday obtain a green card and return. Sanchez's (Abuela's Weave) grainy, slightly primitive, acrylic-on-canvas paintings blaze with rich color and convey the warmth of the relationship between Susan and Lupe. An extensive glossary of the Spanish introduced in the story appears at the end. Ages 6-10.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Gr. 3^-4. This first chapter book tells a very contemporary story about the special friendship that develops between 7-year-old Susan and 16-year-old Lupe, whom Susan's mother hires as a housekeeper. After Lupe disappears without a trace, Susan and her mother discover that Lupe is an illegal alien. Writing from Guadalajara, Lupe tells them she left because she was worried about "la migra," the immigration police, and the story ends with Susan hoping that Lupe will be able to get a green card and return one day. Generously illustrated with full-page acrylic paintings by Sanchez, noted for his work in Omar S. Casaneda's Abuela's Weave (1993), the book glows with the warmth of the friendship shared by the two "amigas." Although there's a glossary for the Spanish words sprinkled throughout the text, it is of limited use since it does not include pronunciation guides. However, the book will be useful both for multicultural studies and for initial discussions about the complex and difficult issues concerning illegal immigration. Annie Ayres