Mara Luz and her family live in Honduras and are very poor. Mara Luz's father must leave the farm to find work and Mara Luz is left to tend the garden. When a new teacher arrives in town, he teaches Mara Luz how to feed the soil using compost, how to create terraces to stop the earth from washing away, and how to grow cash crops. Mara Luz learns how to bypass the coyote or middleman and sell her produce directly to the market. The text introduces the global issue of food insecurity to students and provides them with tools and information to make a difference, locally and globally.

Social Studies grade 3 (2010). Science grade 4 (2010).