Items related to Lights on the River
Synopsis
Teresa, a member of a migrant working family, longs for her grandmother's peaceful home back in Mexico
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From Kirkus Reviews
Teresa, watching her baby brother and little niece while their parents harvest cucumbers, remembers a precious visit home to Teresa's grandmother (Abuela) in Mexico--the camaraderie, shared music, and feast featuring a scrawny rooster and the Christmas custom of floating candles in little wooden boxes downriver past other villages. Now, a candle given to Teresa by Abuela is her one treasure. When the family moves on to harvest peaches, they are assigned humiliating quarters--a chicken coop with two dirty mattresses and a single chair, an outside pump, a filthy outhouse. Mami's anger, only expressed in the set of her lips, is paralleled next morning when Teresa visits the comfortable farmhouse and is given a cookie; hungry, she accepts, though ``her throat was so full of anger that the cookie stuck.'' Still, that night Mami lights Teresa's candle and the memory of home sustains them all. Thomas's (The Princess in the Pigpen, 1989, etc.) text and Dooling's somber palette and perceptive characterizations compassionately convey the emotions of these people while underscoring their dignity. A telling portrayal of Mexican migrant farmworkers in the US. (Fiction/Picture book. 5-10) -- Copyright ©1994, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
From Publishers Weekly
Following crop work from farm to farm, Maria's migrant-worker mother tells the family, "We carry our house on our backs." The intense labor, meager wages and squalid living quarters take their toll, and, to make things more bearable, Maria concentrates on her Abuela and the Christmas Eve tradition of floating candles on the river. Thomas's text flows languidly as she paints this harsh but very realistic setting. Her emotional prose sometimes sounds wistful and is never imbued with a false sense of hope, while Dooling's skilled oil portraits reveal a broad range of feeling. This unusual volume resonates with integrity and is not soon forgotten. Ages 4-8.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
- PublisherHyperion
- Publication date1994
- ISBN 10 0786811323
- ISBN 13 9780786811328
- BindingPaperback
- Number of pages32
- IllustratorDooling Michael
- Rating
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Lights on the River
Seller: HPB-Emerald, Dallas, TX, U.S.A.
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
paperback. Condition: Very Good. Dooling, Michael (illustrator). Connecting readers with great books since 1972! Used books may not include companion materials, and may have some shelf wear or limited writing. We ship orders daily and Customer Service is our top priority!. Seller Inventory # S_396855050
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Lights on the River
Seller: HPB-Ruby, Dallas, TX, U.S.A.
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
paperback. Condition: Very Good. Dooling, Michael (illustrator). Connecting readers with great books since 1972! Used books may not include companion materials, and may have some shelf wear or limited writing. We ship orders daily and Customer Service is our top priority!. Seller Inventory # S_362316232
Quantity: 1 available
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Lights on the River
Published by
Hyperion Books for Children/New York,, 1994
ISBN 10: 0786811323
ISBN 13: 9780786811328
Used
Softcover
First Edition
Seller: Alf Books, Menomonie, WI, U.S.A.
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Dooling, Michael (illustrator). soft cover, unpaged, 9 7/8 x 8 inches, 1st edition, very good + book condition, no dust jacket, juvenile picture book, Seller Inventory # C 0523
Quantity: 1 available