Free to Learn: How Alfredo Lopez Fought for the Right to Go to School

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. (Apr.)