Orange groves have long been a part of Clara’s family ever since her Abuelo came to this country. Her relatives in California are full of stories about it. During her yearly summer stay there with her parents, Clara hears tales of magic, mischief, and monstruos among the groves.
But Abuelo says the groves are no place for their visitor. Clara wouldn’t know, because she’s never been there. And she doesn’t want to be considered a visitor. “A visitor is a tourist, a stranger,” she thinks to herself. “I’m familia!”
So one day while everyone packs for a trip to the beach, Clara decides to sneak into Abuelo’s pickup truck. Soon she’s finally where she’s always wanted to be: the groves. What she finds before her is a magical citrus kingdom.
In the Groves centers on the adventure that awaits for Clara and her grandfather. Out now from Penguin Workshop, this tenderhearted debut picture book by Andrea Cruz Floren is largely inspired by the author’s own family history. Cruz Floren grew up in South Dakota, far from her family in California. Her grandfather tended to orange groves.
“I just remember the groves being this place that everybody in the family would talk about,” she told Latinx in Publishing. “It had this air of mystery around it. Tall tales of these big things that happened there. And as a little girl, it sounded like this fantastic place to be.”
Cruz Floren spoke with Latinx in Publishing about her family history, what it was like to write In the Groves, and more.
This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.
Amaris Castillo: Congratulations on your debut book, In the Groves. I understand your story was inspired by your own family’s history with orange groves. Can you tell us more about that?
Andrea Cruz Floren (ACF): My mother’s side of the family is originally from Mexico. My great-grandparents came over in the 20s. My grandmother actually was migratory; she went back and forth for a while until she finally stayed in California. And it was her father – my great-grandfather – who started working in the orange groves way back in the 20s. Later on when her and my grandfather got together, my grandfather learned the trade and then he started working in the orange groves. Over the decades, many of my family members either worked in the groves, worked in the packing houses, and worked as pickers. Because at that time in California, the groves were a booming industry. That’s what a lot of migrant and immigrant workers could do in California for work.
My grandfather continued (working) all the way up until the late 80s, early 90s. So he was still doing it when I was a little girl. I just remember the groves being this place that everybody in the family would talk about. It had this air of mystery around it. Tall tales of these big things that happened there. And as a little girl, it sounded like this fantastic place to be. We grew up in the Midwest so, as a visitor, they would want to show us what they thought were the really interesting things in California. That was like the beach or, if we saved up money, Disneyland. And I always just really wanted to see these orange groves, and I never got to. I lost my grandfather several years back, and he and the groves have always stuck with me. He was such a vibrant, joyful person. His outlook on life was a big impression on me, and I just felt like it was a story that needed to be told.
AC: Your main character, Clara, visits her extended family in California. Everyone lives there but her, and when she is with them, her abuelo always wants to take him to all the places he thinks she wants to see. It made me think about how children find joy in places adults may not think. And this is definitely a theme that runs through the whole story. What was it like to try to depict this on the page?
ACF: For me it was really emotional, because I never did get to see them. I actually interviewed a lot of family members that had been to the groves and it was so interesting because, in their child’s mind, it was this place. There’s my grandfather doing manual labor, and then he would stop and make the kids a sword out of a stick, or make them some other little fun things. And they would be running around, capturing snakes, dodging cougars – doing pretty dangerous things. [Laughs] But in their minds, it was always like the best day ever. It was really emotional that I didn’t get that experience.
When I was a little girl, we were the only family that lived out in the Midwest. Everybody else was in California. Because of that, it was really emotional to be able to combine all these family stories and think about what my child’s mind would have seen, had I been able to go to the groves. I wish I could have told my grandfather what an important and special place that actually is to our family.
“ I just remember the groves being this place that everybody in the family would talk about. It had this air of mystery around it. Tall tales of these big things that happened there. And as a little girl, it sounded like this fantastic place to be.”
AC: When Clara sneaks into her abuelo’s truck and ends up in the orange groves with him, her first impression is that it’s a “magical citrus kingdom.” The orange groves obviously carry its own meaning and weight in the story and for her family. As you wrote this book, what meaning did the orange groves carry for you? And did that meaning change?
ACF: I think maybe it didn’t necessarily change, but it became deeper. For me, it’s a layered meaning. On the one hand, for a child, these places that – like you said – adults think are workaday or boring, are really imaginative places in the child’s mind. And I just wanted to honor that.
And as I wrote the book, it just became so clear to me what a privilege it was to share this story in the world. It’s something that my grandfather did every day because he had to, because it’s what put food on the table, it’s what gave opportunities. It wasn’t easy work and now, all these years later, here I am with a college degree – getting to write a picture book about it. And there’s something really bittersweet about that.
AC: This is your debut picture book, but you have experience in commercial and editorial illustration work. How did you decide how to approach the illustrations for your book?
ACF: A lot of people in my family are self-taught, kind of scrappy people. I am actually pretty self-taught. I worked in design and advertising for over 20 years, but I don’t have a Master of Fine Art. A lot of that is things I’ve picked up along the way. And when I knew I wanted to transition towards children’s books, I was really nervous about putting myself out there on the page.
I would love to explore more traditional media in the future, but because of my background, I’m very comfortable with digital media. So I did a combination, where I did a lot of exploration on the side: I did a lot of painting and sketching and colored pencil work – just painting textures and shapes. Then I got experimental and combined it with digital media and tried to make it a blend of the two worlds, which I realized is pretty fitting to who I am. I’m a blend of so many things, and it’s fitting that my art kind of matches myself. I’ve always felt like I’ve been in between cultures, in between worlds, in between writing and drawing.
AC: What are you hoping readers take away from In the Groves?
ACF: It’s one of those stories I talked about with my editor. It works on multiple levels, and I really hope readers are able to grasp a little bit of each of those levels. I think on the surface, it’s definitely some magical realism and an adventure. Is it true? Is it not? What happened? What didn’t? There’s that kind of fun and adventure side of it.
And then running underneath it is definitely a story about belonging. For kids who are either not from this country, or maybe of a mixed background, or maybe they live far from where their cultural roots are – I think there’s a story in there about you do have a place in your lineage. And you do belong.
There’s another line running through there about honoring your family stories, and honoring the idea of oral storytelling. That is an important historical tool for many cultures. I wanted to honor that, and honor the hard work of my family and so many other marginalized communities that do this kind of work and don’t get to have that be seen on the page as an honorable and beautiful job.
Andrea Floren grew up in South Dakota, far from her California family. Her grandfather, who tended the orange groves, had a gift for storytelling. He encouraged Andrea to keep writing; she hopes to honor his memory with this debut book. Andrea currently lives in Colorado with her family. Visit her at quietlyfiery.com.
Amaris Castillo is an award-winning journalist, writer, and the creator of Bodega Stories, a series featuring real stories from the corner store. Her writing has appeared in La Galería Magazine, Aster(ix) Journal, Spanglish Voces, PALABRITAS, Dominican Moms Be Like… (part of the Dominican Writers Association’s #DWACuenticos chapbook series), and most recently Quislaona: A Dominican Fantasy Anthology and Sana, Sana: Latinx Pain and Radical Visions for Healing and Justice. Her short story, “El Don,” was a prize finalist for the 2022 Elizabeth Nunez Caribbean-American Writers’ Prize by the Brooklyn Caribbean Literary Festival. She is a proud member of Latinx in Publishing’s Writers Mentorship Class of 2023 and lives in Florida with her family.
