The Queen of Water

This is both an extraordinary story and an extraordinarily well-written one. The book tell the true story of Virginia, who is more or less sold into slavery when she's only seven, and what happens to her over the course of the next ten or so years. This is not a long-ago story, either.

Parts of it are very hard to read, especially if one is easily bruised by gratuitous cruelty. Parts of it are like what one imagines surfing on the back of a dolphin would be like, purely joyful. There are a lot of bittersweet moments in Virginia's young life.

The cultural divide is a large one for me- there's very little that I knew about Ecuador before picking up this book, so in addition to the story as story, I was also picking up fascinating bits of Equador.

Highly recommended. Thanks to Wendy for pushing this.
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The fact that this story is based upon the life experiences of Resau's collaborator, María Virginia Farinango makes it all the more poignant and inspiring. ( )

School Library Journal
Gr 9 Up—Based on a true story, and told from the protagonist's point of view, The Queen of Water follows a seven-year-old indígena who was taken from her family in the rural Ecuadoran Andes mountains to be a servant in an urban home. Confused, afraid, and alone, Virginia accepts her captors as parents and loves their children. The prejudice of these mestizos, or middle-class natives, speeds the girl's assimilation, though it comes with a price: an inferiority complex that she confronts slowly as she secretly teaches herself to read. Confusion over whether or not her parents gave her away willingly serves the plot well; Virginia's dilemma doesn't fit neatly into formulas about courage and fighting for justice, although eventually both are within her reach. Her mistreatment by the woman of the house, an overweight, selfish dentist, is humiliating, constant, and disturbing; her husband plays her foil—understanding, even loving, until Virginia reaches adolescence—when he tries to molest her. This is a poignant coming-of-age novel that will expose readers to the exploitation of girls around the world whose families grow up in poverty ( )

When Virginia was seven, her parents sold her to a well-to-do family as a servant. Treated cruelly, she grows to be a teenager, wishing for me. She receives no pay and is never taken back to see her family. She teaches herself to read and write, and looks for a way to escape. ( )

"She'll do. We'll take her."Suddenly, I understand that I have no say in this. Not a shred of power. The decision has been made... This is happening whether I like it or not.Virginia was born in a large but poor family in an Andean mountain village in Ecuador. Society is divided sharply between the working class indigenas, or native Indian people, and the ruling mestizos, or descendents of Spanish conquerors. At age 7, Virginia is taken to the town of Kuna Yaku to be a servant to a mestizo family. She is promised a monthly salary, the opportunity to attend school, and to return home to visit her family. In reality, Virginia becomes a slave to the family, working long hours cooking, cleaning and caring for the babies, while sleeping on the floor, wearing castoffs, and not being allowed to use the same dishes as the family. All talk of salary, school and visits disappears immediately. She has no idea how to escape, as she has traveled hours to get to the town, and has no friends or relatives nearby to help. For eight years, she endures her enslavement, cruelty and beatings, but she teaches herself to read and discovers learning, as well as the occasional kindness of others. She is smart, resourceful, and driven to make something better of her life, even though she's been told over and over that no one wants her, even her own family. A moving and heartbreaking story of courage and overcoming odds at every turn. Based on the author's life, this will stay with you long after you've finished. Beautifully written, for 7th grade and up. ( )