The Pecan Sheller

By Lupe Ruiz-Flores. Carolrhoda Books, 2025. 256 pages. $19.99/hardcover; $9.99/eBook. Recommended for ages 10–14.

If you know Texas, then you know the beauty, flavor, and importance of the pecan tree. On the 300 acres in north central Texas that I grew up on, 25 of that was in a low area along a creek bed that my family dubbed “the pecan bottoms.” Two-hundred-year-old pecan trees grew there in abundance, and every October, my sisters and I would take a ten-gallon bucket and go pick the fruit of the pecan trees. We picked them for fun and for the occasional extra buck we could earn selling the pecans to family or friends.

Lupe Ruiz-Flores has created a culturally impressive story of power, hope, and resilience centered around a fictional 13-year-old girl growing up during the real-life pecan shellers’ strike that took place in San Antonio, Tex., in 1938. A daughter of Mexican immigrants, Petra dreams of nothing more than to be a writer. After her father’s sudden death, Petra has to drop out of school to help her family survive. She goes to work as a pecan sheller, enduring horrendous working conditions. Friends her age die of tuberculosis, which spreads easily due to tight quarters and poor ventilation in the factory. Employees are cheated by their bosses. Petra feels no matter how hard she works, she will never be able to achieve her dream.

When a 21-year-old labor activist named Emma (based on the real-life Emma Tenayuca) organizes a union meeting for the workers, Petra is reminded that “[c]hange would never happen unless they made it happen.” Petra joins thousands of pecan shellers in a strike for better wages and working conditions. Not long after the strike, the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 was passed by Congress, which set the federal minimum wage. Petra with the strength and love of the community around her helped make the change that she never could have accomplished alone.

Ruiz-Flores dedicates the book to her late mother, Victoria, who was a former pecan sheller. The Pecan Sheller takes a forgotten yet powerful piece of history and gives it life. Through the bravery of a young girl, we are taught the power of resilience, community, and, above all, love.

---

Cassie J. Hardee is a member of Fort Worth (Tex.) Meeting and is the American Friends Service Committee representative for South Central Yearly Meeting. She recently moved to Los Angeles, Calif., to work in engagement and outreach at an international K–12 school. Cassie is a writer, a nature enthusiast, and passionate about ending LGBTQ+ youth homelessness.