Free to Learn
How Alfredo Lopez Fought for the Right to Go to School
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- $16.99
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- $16.99
Publisher Description
From the author of the award-winning The Youngest Marcher comes a picture book about the true story of Alfredo Lopez, an undocumented boy involved in a landmark Supreme Court case that still ensures children’s right to education today.
Alfredo Lopez has so many questions before starting second grade! Will his friends be in his class? Will his teacher speak Spanish? But then his parents tell him that he has to stay home, and Alfredo’s questions change. Why can’t he go to school with the other kids? And why is his family going to the courthouse?
In 1977, the school district of Tyler, Texas, informed parents that, unless they could provide proof of citizenship, they would have to pay for their children to attend public school. Four undocumented families fought back in a legal battle that went all the way to the Supreme Court. Alfredo was one of the students involved in Plyler v. Doe, which made a difference for children all over the country for years to come.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
A family works to ensure their son can attend school in the U.S. in this fictionalized account of a 1970s educational battle to secure education for undocumented students in a Texas district. Alfredo Lopez (b. 1949) is looking forward to second grade, but on the first day of school, he does not find "migas for breakfast, fresh laces for his sneakers, or a sharp number two pencil." Instead, he's kept home, waving to peers each day. In a flashback, the text outlines the protagonist's birth in Mexico, his parents' departure to find work in Texas and his eventually joining them there, and, after a year of classes in the U.S., a new state law: "If you do not have proper documents,/ you are illegal./ So,/ You cannot go to school." Without telling Lopez, his parents risk deportation for a court case claiming the law as unconstitutional. In Ortega's digital illustrations, inviting schoolroom images give way to the subdued brown palette of an intimidating courtroom setting. Background characters are portrayed with various skin tones. More about those involved, an author's note, and additional information conclude. Ages 4–8.
