Product Description

Translated by Rosa Zubizarreta.

Simple poems and glorious paintings offer a deeply moving portrait of migrant Chicano farmworker families at work and play.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #661424 in Books
• Published on: 1997-04-28
• Original language: English, Spanish
• Dimensions: .42" h x 9.59" w x 11.31" l, 1.02 pounds
• Binding: Hardcover
• 40 pages

From School Library Journal
PreSchool-Grade 5?An alphabet book with exceptional illustrations and excellent poetry that gives voice to the experience of Hispanic agricultural workers. Each letter is matched with a Spanish word (for example, "Arboles" for "A") and accompanied by a poem in both Spanish and English that describes how the plant, fruit, vegetable, person, or feeling functions in the lives of these workers. Zubizarreta's English translations are informed and graceful, but predictably cannot match the Spanish originals in rhythm, assonance, or meter. Silva's vibrant, double-page, gouache illustrations are reminiscent of the artwork of Diego Rivera and Jose Clemente Orozco. The colors are brilliant, and the scope has a certain larger-than-life sense to it. This is a book that begs to be read aloud to all students, whether they are Spanish speaking or not. The sound of the poems will draw them in. The touching elegy for Cesar Chavez successfully imparts the impact of a heroic man on his people. Whether used to show the plight of migrant workers or the pride Hispanic laborers feel in their heritage, this is an important book.?Ann Welton, Terminal Park Elementary School, Auburn, WA
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
Ages 5-8. Using the Spanish alphabet as a template, Ada has written 27 poems that celebrate both the bounty of the harvest and the Mexican heritage of the farmworkers and their families. The poems, presented in both Spanish and English, are short and simple bursts of flavor: "Árboles/Trees," "Betabel/Beet," "César Chávez," etc. Silva's sun-drenched gouache paintings are robust, with images sculpted in paint. Brimming with respect and pride, the book, with its mythic vision of the migrant farm worker, will add much to any unit on farming or Mexican American heritage. Annie Ayres

The Horn Book
"These brief poems honor the lives of migrant farmwokers and celebrate an alphabetic list of spanish words."