Migrant by Maxine Trottier

today’s children storybook summary is

Migrant

By Maxine Trottier

Illustrated by Isabelle Arsenault

The takeaway: This is a very sweet story about a migrant family of Mennonites from Mexico and their lives on the road, told through the eyes of a young girl.

Storyline

Anna and her family are migrants, like the birds that fly north in the spring and south in the summer. They leave their farms in a small community of Mennonites in Mexico to go up north in the United States and Canada, where they work over the summer in the fields.

Anna wonders how it would be to stay in one place where you can have your own bed and maybe a bike.

When they arrive at their destination, they are given an empty farmhouse to live in. Her mother cleans the rooms, trying to make a temporary home for their family. Sometimes Ann feels like a rabbit in a hole, sometimes like a bee.

Her parents are working in the fields, picking tomatoes. Anna is too young to work, but all her brothers and sisters are picking tomatoes. At night, all the sisters share one big bed, curled together, keeping warm and safe. Anna feels that sisters are like kittens and brothers are like puppies.

They shop for food at a local grocery store. There, Anna has a chance to see different people and hear other languages. Some are sweet, like the German she and her people speak; others are spicy or slow, and it feels “as though a thousand crickets are all singing a different song."  She even picks up some words. Anna is just an acute observer of the world. She wants to be like a tree with very deep roots, watching the seasons pass by.

But in the fall, she packs her bags and drives down south with her family once more.

Characters: Anna, the younger daughter of a migrant Mennonite family from Mexico

Illustration

Isabelle Arsenault, the illustrator of this book, is an award-winning artist. She uses soft color with accents to make her pictures come alive. The art is realistic, clean, and clear. Though at times she imagines the character in unrealistic circumstances, she sticks to the everyday representation of people and places.

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Theme: migrants, migration, having a home

Recommended Age: 4 to 7

Reading Time: 5 minutes

Things to Learn

Who are the Mennonites?

At the end of this book, there is a page where the author gathers information about the community of Mennonites leaving Mexico, about their origin, status, and way of life. Basically, they are German migrants from Canada who moved to Mexico in the 1920s to farm and find religious freedom. They return to work as seasonal workers in Canada and the United States.

Medal/Awards: New Your Times Best Illustrated Children's Book Award

 

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