This book would be great for Intermediate readers
The book is about a girl who is uprooted from her home and has to travel throughout Mexico during a revolution, supporting her younger two siblings and her grandma
This book would be a good one to do a full book club with or read aloud in a big group as there are many topics and difficulties within the book that would allow for real and difficult conversation. This book also mentions aspects of Mexican history and culture that would be beneficial to learn about, possibly paired with a specific history unit.

This chapter book is about a young girl named Petra Luna and her family during the Mexican Revolution. The main plot of this book follows Petra and her family walking barefoot north to try and find somewhere where they are safe. Each story follows the chronicles of this time her Petra and what it all came with. I think this is a great historical fiction chapter book to incorporate in a middle level classroom that is comfortable with chapter books and is ready to have discussions about to content in the book. I think that it is great too because it can be a story students are fascinated with and can find empathy for the family in the story and the possibility of having classmates who have families with similar stories.

This would be a great book to read as a class and discuss with students about the cultural dynamics that were happening in 1910, which is when this book takes place. This book will help students to understand what it means to go through hard times and to see what powering through and tackling mountains will get you. ( )

Historical fiction, Mexican Revolution, survival, family, read2023 ( )

Set during the Mexican Revolution of 1913, this novel is based on the author’s family history. When he was forcibly taken by federal troops to join the war, thirteen-year-old Petra promised her father that she would keep the family together until they could be reunited. Now those same Federales have burned her village and she, her grandmother, younger sister, Amelia, and baby brother, Luisito, must flee across the desert.

This is a marvelous story of courage in the face of adversity, easily enjoyed by middle-school children as well as adults. Petra is a wonderful character: strong, intelligent, observant, loyal, resourceful and a born leader. She is NOT going to be one of the women her grandmother insists she is destined to become: subservient, obedient, quiet, content to be at home caring for her husband and children. No, Petra has bigger dreams. She will learn to read and to care for herself.

On their dangerous trek towards the promised safety of the “other side” (i.e. the United States), Petra encounters a few people who help her and who nourish her dreams. She also learns from her grandmother’s experience, and always keeps in mind her promise to her father.

Petra carries her most treasured possession with her: a lump of coal her father brought her from the mine he worked. He explained how diamonds are formed by the pressure exerted on such black rocks. Petra contemplates how the pressures she is enduring are also forming her strong character. Like her rock, she is a “baby diamond” who will one day sparkle and shine.

Dobbs includes notes about how her own great-grandmother related her story of fleeing their village for the safety of the United States. Those stories sparked curiosity and Dobbs went searching for confirming details in recorded news accounts of the day. She includes a timeline of Mexican history leading to the critical events depicted in the book. ( )