About This Book

Sherry Garland's compelling diary of Maria Rosalia de Milagros is set against the history of California. She is a mestizo servant in a Spanish home in 1845. Orphaned years ago, she and her brother, Domingo, work on the Medina rancho, run by the stern Senor Medina. Rosa works hard for the family and is close with the Medina daughters.

Rosa's writing captures the intense tradition and culture of the Spanish as she observes religious festivals, weddings, cultural clashes, and ultimately the war that Alta California loses to the Americans. As she recalls daily life as a servant, Rosa explains this fascinating and devastating history of the Spanish in California, along with her own tale of lost lineage. The resolution of the story comes in the climax of battles lost, and of family mysteries solved.

Rosa is a wonderfully intriguing young woman with a sharp and true voice. With this diary, she brings to life a complicated and often forgotten time in American history.

Series Information

Today's most distinguished authors lend their voices and talents to this best-selling historical fiction series.

Presented in journal format, "Dear America" invites readers into the personal worlds of girls from different times in American history. Each moving narrative is extensively researched and inspired by real letters and journals of the time. Not only will readers experience firsthand what it was like to grow up in another time and place, but they will discover how important their own stories are to the making of history.

About the Authors or Illustrators

Sherry Garland

Sherry Garland's first book for young readers was a nonfiction work on Vietnam that grew out of interests she developed while working with the Vietnamese immigrant community in Texas. Her knowledge of and interest in Vietnamese culture and the Vietnamese-American experience is something she has drawn on again and again in the novels and picture books she has written since.

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