This past awards season counted as a career milestone for author María Dolores Águila. Her historical middle grade novel in verse, A Sea of Lemon Trees (Roaring Brook), garnered a slew of critical acclaim, including a 2026 Newbery Honor, a Pura Belpré Honor, and a spot on the 2025 National Book Award longlist, as well as the Jane Addams Children’s Book Award and the Scott O’Dell Award for Historical Fiction—not to mention the several starred reviews, and inclusion on several year-end Best Books lists. It’s clear that Águila’s book struck a chord with readers and literary critics alike.
For the author, seeing her first middle grade book, following her picture books Barrio Rising and Menudo Sunday, resonate so strongly within the literary community has been a “validating” experience. Writing a novel that highlights an oft overlooked aspect of history and grapples with racism and discrimination felt like a risk that is now reaping (literal and metaphorical) rewards.
“I don’t know what to think,” Águila said of the attention being paid to her novel. “I’m an intensely personal and quiet person, so to know that all these people are reading it and talking about it is hard, because I see the work in the process, while everybody else sees the finished product.”
The final product is A Sea of Lemon Trees, a fictionalized account of Mexican American middle schooler Roberto Alvarez, who attended Lemon Grove Grammar School in Lemon Grove, Calif. In 1931, the school board attempted to segregate Mexican and Mexican American students by building a separate school, and Alvarez, along with his local community, became the focus of what is now known as the Lemon Grove Incident, the country’s first successful school desegregation case.
Águila grew up just 10 minutes away from the Lemon Grove district but hadn’t been aware of the pivotal history that had taken place there. Years later she was drawn to writing about Mexican American and Chicano history, and decided to look into her own family’s history for inspiration. Upon learning about her great-grandmother having to take a citizenship test despite being a U.S citizen, it made her want to look more closely into the racial tensions happening across Los Angeles, which was how she discovered the Lemon Grove case.
From a Seed to Success
A Sea of Lemon Trees went through many changes before becoming the book that is on shelves today. What originally began as a picture book as part of her two-book deal for Dial Books for Young Readers was put on the back burner when her second picture book, Menudo Sunday, took precedence. But it was her previous editor, Rosie Ahmed at Dial, who suggested adapting the concept into a middle grade novel.
“I feel like my experience writing picture books lent itself to writing a verse novel, because in picture books, we have to distill a story to its most concentrated essence,” Águila said. Her original submission was also for a strictly nonfiction book. With input from her new editor, Luisa Beguiristain at Roaring Brook, she decided that wasn’t the best narrative choice for the story.
According to Beguiristain, pivoting to historical fiction was the more “natural path” due to the lack of historical data, while it also allowed room for more emotional interiority. “It was a matter of how much we could learn from talking to the family, how much we could we learn from historical records, and where we needed to tap into Maria’s own connection to the story,” she said. “On a plot level, it was great. It just needed a little bit more heart.”
Águila feels a particular connection to this piece of history. As a Mexican and Chicano writer, she could relate to having politics thrust upon her childhood, which was an experience she wanted to capture. “I think there is this loss of innocence when your world view is shattered,” she said. “That’s a shock to your system and it shakes your confidence. For me, that was the hardest part and the most interesting part.”
But the author believes the story is truly built on community. Though the story focuses on Roberto, the novel’s supporting cast of characters—including his family, friends, peers, and neighbors who encourage him on his fight for justice—act as a major source of motivation. Águila’s hope is that by showcasing the resilience of Roberto and his community, other children will understand what is possible.
“When I was growing up, I never got to see what my community had accomplished,” Águila said. “When I write these books, I write them as social capital for kids that are like my kids, so they can see themselves doing things that might have seemed impossible.”
With the Trump administration’s hostile ICE raids that have targeted Hispanic and Latine communities, it is a reminder that history is often never entirely in the rearview mirror. Águila hopes that both the timing and success of her novel enable readers to recognize their own place in the world, and how we are all in the process of making history. “We live in the echo of history. We live in the repercussions of people in the past,” she said. “We’ve been through this, and [this book shows] a way that we got through it.”
For Águila, this project acts both as a reflection of history, and an opportunity to make history of her own. “As someone who never got to see themselves in a book, to see other people connect with the story so deeply makes me so happy that I took the chances that I did.”
