Reader reviewed by librariane

A Pura Belpre Honor Book

Chicos family follows the harvest, and for this story, the crop is grapes. This story takes place on Chicos first day of third grade, and he is apprehensive about going to yet another new school. Several things also make the day daunting: the bus driver seems scary, he runs into a couple of troublemakers, and has to write a story! But he finds that hes really good at math, stands up to the bullies and his teacher is really nice (and seems to like him!).

In a lot of ways, this is a typical starting over at a new school story, but the Hispanic twist to it makes it a perfect multicultural book (without being in your face multicultural). The book reminded me a lot of Esperanza Rising, but for lower elementary kids.