Return to Sender by Julia Alvarez

Tyler and his family are about to lose their dairy farm in Vermont, their beloved home, because they can no longer keep up with all the work it requires.  Tyler's father has been disabled in a farming accident, his older brother has gone off to college and 11 year-old Tyler is unable to handle the farming work on his own and go to school.  To save the farm, Tyler's parents decide to hire three immigrant men.  They soon learn that one of the three men is raising his three daughters while his wife is away.

The three girls, all named Maria, will be attending Tyler's school next year. Tyler is happy that his family may now save their dairy farm, that is, until his mother tells him not to tell anyone that they have hired a family to work the farm.  It turns out that the three immigrant men are undocumented and Tyler's family could get into trouble for knowingly hiring the three men.  Tyler struggles with the morality of the situation. How could his family break the law?  Why would they ask him to keep such a secret? Is the secret worth keeping if it saves his family farm, his home? What will Tyler do?

Lexile: 890