In 1937, Petra, 13, is forced to drop out of school to help her widowed stepmother support the family. Working in a pecan shelling factory, she never gives up her dreams. A realistic account of what it was like to be a child worker in a factory despite dire conditions. Back matter.

"In 1930s San Antonio, thirteen-year-old Petra dreams of going to college and becoming a writer. But with her beloved father dead, two younger siblings to care for, and with a stepmother struggling to make ends meet, Petra has to drop out of school to shell pecans at a factory. Hoping it's only temporary, she tries not to despair over the grueling work conditions. But after the unhealthy environment leads to tragedy and workers' already low wages are cut, She and her coworkers go on strike for higher wages and safer conditions, risking everything they have for the hope of a better future."
This middle grade book has a great voice for 13 yr. old Petra. It vacillated between grief, anger and resentment, to understanding and action. The cast of characters are well developed. What is not seen a lot is the role of step-mothers and I think this book did not rely on cliches about their roles, but rather how difficult for kids and the parent to navigate these new relationships.

There are a lot of issues in the book: poverty, income inequality, worker's pay and economic justice, the hazards of factory work and their toll on workers health as well as the bright spots in life not being taken for granted. The power of family and community is a focus on a well-written book for middle graders to high school. Thank you for the opportunity to read The Pecan Sheller.

Petra has such a great voice and is a character you can't help but get behind. It is the 1930s and Petra loves school. She wants to be a writer. But life intervenes when she is forced to give up school and start work at the pecan shelling factory where the work is not only grueling, but hazardous. Petra does the only thing she know will help - she organizes a strike. Based on real historical events and people, this novel is a must read.

El libro es muy excelente! I really enj0yed this book. This book talks about worker's rights. This is a fantastic book! El libro es muy excelente! I liked the christian values that were incorporated throughout the novel and look out for more work by Lupe Ruiz-Flores!

"I received a complimentary copy of this book through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own."
I think this is an excellent early chapter book, I'm also trying to read and encourage reading of more books about and by non-white individuals with all the anti DEI happening. We were already deep in book banning in our area so access to varied books is something I really value for kids.
This was a well written and good resource.

While I really enjoyed a glimpse into a piece of history I wasn't much aware of, unfortunately the writing of this novel fell flat for me

The Pecan Sheller gave me a glimpse into a part of history I didn’t know much about, and I really appreciated that. The story does a great job showing the struggles of pecan shelling workers, their fight for better conditions, and what life was like in that time and place. I definitely learned a lot, and I think it would be a great read for anyone studying Texas history, labor movements, the rise of unions, or the creation of minimum wage laws.

That said, while I liked the book, it didn’t fully stick with me after finishing it. I usually rate books higher when I keep thinking about them days later, and this one just didn’t have that kind of impact for me. Still, it’s a well-written and informative read that I’d recommend to anyone interested in historical fiction about workers’ rights and resilience.

3.5 stars

This was a gorgeous book for younger audiences. The history lesson on the 1930s is incredibly valuable and told in an interesting way. I loved the strong community of women that Petra had to uplift her through her many tough moments.

Petra Navarros lives in San Antonio, Texas, in 1937. Times are tough, especially since her father has passed away, and her step mother (Amá) is trying to support Petra and her step siblings by shelling pecans in a local factory. Petra loves school, and promised her father that she would continue with her education so that she had more opportunities in her life, but when Amá can't earn enough money, Petra has to quit school and shell pecans as well. It's a tough job, and the working conditions are terrible. The dust from the pecans, combined with inadequate ventilation, lead to many of the workers getting tuberculosis. Petra befriends Dona Ramoncita, and older woman whose excellent work allows her to be somewhat outspoken, and Ofelia, who is slightly older and engaged to be married. Money is so tight that Petra finds it hard to obtain paper or pencils in order to write down her stories, and her siblings struggle to have shoes and clothes that fit. There are some moments of joy, and Amá allows Petra to go to the quinceanera of a school friend, even though the wealthy celebration is somewhat uncomfortable. When all of the factories in town threaten to cut wages (so that workers won't try to go to another factory), Dona Ramoncita leads a strike, but Amá doesn't want Petra to be involved, since Amá lived through the Mexican Revolution, which treated her brutally. The town rallies around the workers, and people donate food, but since Amá had lost her job before the strike and is taking in laundry, times are especially tough. Petra continues to fight for the cause, even being beaten and jailed. In the end, the strike causes the owners to limit the wage cuts a bit and improve conditions slightly, but a few months after the settlement, the Fair Labor Act guaruntees workers 25 cents an out. While some factories bring in machinery to cut the amount of workers, Amá is able to get a job running one of the machines, and Petra is able to go back to school.
Strengths: Historical fiction is helpful for providing young readers with a sense of context; when I was growing up, I heard personal stories about the privations of the Great Depression, but my students would be shocked to learn that Petra erased her assignment from notebook paper so she could reuse it. I know I pick up a dozen pencils a day from the hallway floors, so Petra's excitement about the gift of a pencil will be a revelation. The expectation for fair labor practices are also much different today, and the concept of taking work home from factories for families to work on will also be shocking for children who spend six hours a day playing games on their phones. This also touched on other historical events, like the Mexican Revolution and the Fair Pay Act, and has some helpful notes.
Weaknesses: While the death of the father is very sad, I can't imagine that Amá would have stayed in bed for several days. She wouldn't have had the luxury.
What I really think: This is a good choice for readers who enjoyed Sanchez's The Wind Called My Name or Dobbs' The Barefoot Dreams of Petra Luna, which sheds some light on the experiences Amá might have had in Mexico.
https://msyinglingreads.blogspot.com/2019/01/the-wind-called-my-name.html
https://msyinglingreads.blogspot.com/2021/09/mmgm-barefoot-dreams-of-petra-luna-and.html

Petra and her story of working in the pecan shelling factories is an important piece of history. I learned so much from her story. This would be a great book for classrooms to share.

The Pecan Sheller is a wonderful children's novel that unearth some of the harsh truths of the 1930's and how many families struggled to overcome the depression, hardships of the economy, and family life.

Petra is young girl who has lost so much in her short life, her parents included, and then has to leave her hearts desire for school, to help her step-mom take care of her and her younger siblings. The strong takes place in Texas and helps to give realistic accounts of the conditions of work for children and the workers. It gives readers an insights to what sparked the movement for better work conditions and treatment. This story does a great job of appealing to the reader's sense of equality and understanding the fight for justice. I enjoyed hearing the story from Petra's perspective and how this story helps honor her mom and grandma who where sheller themselves.

Thank you Netgalley and Lerner Publishing Group for my ARC copy. I received an advance copy in exchange for my review.

What a beautiful story of standing up for what you believe in to help your family.
Petra becomes a pecan sheller even though she wants nothing more than to go to school.
But once her mom gets fired from the factory and there is talk of lowering the wages she has to find a way to fight back.
She fights alongside others and learns more about herself and her family in the process.
A deep story of real history of fighting for your rights.

Thanks NetGalley for this ARC.

I really enjoyed reading this book, it had that historical element that I was looking for and enjoyed the way everything came together. I enjoyed how good the characters were and worked in this time-period. Lupe Ruiz-Flores wrote this perfectly and am excited for more.

The Pecan Sheller is set during the late 1930s and follows Petra, a thirteen-year-old girl who has to leave school and get a job shelling pecans after her father’s death in order to help her Amá pay the bills and take care of Petra’s younger siblings. While working in the pecan factory, Petra makes new friends, but also is confronted with terrible working conditions and seeing many people get tuberculosis and die. When one of her new friends dies and the factory owners want to cut already low wages, Petra is ready to fight for change.

This is really intense in many ways and deals with many tough topics, but I also think Petra’s perspective gives enough distance from the topics to make them real without making them overwhelming. I also really loved how much she felt like a teenager, wanting to do fun things and hang out with her friends, as well as wanting to finish high school, just like she promised her Papa. Her relationship with Amá is especially contentious because she’s the one denying Petra, and it’s hard for Petra to see and understand that it’s coming from a place of love.

I also really appreciated the historical setting, as this is a period I was unfamiliar with, and seeing early unionization and that it included even some of the youngest workers makes the book feel very hopeful. If unionization worked almost a hundred years ago, surely it’s important today and still making important changes for working conditions and wages.

I really enjoyed this book and the history it gave me. I also love Petra as a narrator, and the nuance of the story’s different characters. There are definitely heartbreaking moments, but overall this feels like a story of hope and community.

It is the middle of the Great Depression and Pedra’s father has died. There is not enough money for her, her step-mother, and her brother and sister to survive, so she must drop out of school and join her mother in shelling pecans.

The work is hard, and it pays very little. Pedra desperately wants to go back to school, but knows she must do this to help her family survive. She works hard, but when the pay is cut, the works go on strike, with the help of a local union leader.

The union leader in the book is real, as are the pecan shellers, which the author’s mother and grandmother were. And there were 13 year olds, such as Pedra, working in the factories.

I love historical fiction, because it often gives you a look at a time and palace you know knowing about. In this case, the 1930s, San Antonio, Texas, where the poorest of the poor work for pennies a day.

I very much liked Pedra as a character, though she started out naive, she grew stronger and more worldly as the story went on.

Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review. This book is being published on the 1st of April 2025.