El lector =: the reader

Thirteen-year-old Bella wants to be a lector just like her grandfather. All day long he sits on a special platform in the cigar factory in Ybor City, Florida, reading books, newspapers, and current events to workers as they roll the cigars. Lectors have always been highly respected members of their Cuban American community. But now times are changing. When the factory workers clash with the owners, violence erupts and the lectors start losing their jobs. And then there’s the radio. Could this small device replace the lector? It’s up to Bella to determine her future and help her people preserve their history. From the Hardcover edition. Bella always dreamed of being a lector, just like her Grandfather, who reads novels, political essays and union news to the workers in a cigar factory. However, circumstances force Bella to take a job at the cigar factory to help support her family instead of getting the education she needs to be a reader. Then, her Aunt Lola is arrested with other workers after a union meeting, and radios begin to replace the lectors in the factories, and Bella must find a way to save her family and her dreams