people and places

In light of the "zero tolerance" policies maintained by most schools, conventional wisdom says parents should discourage their children from fighting or causing trouble.
Kathleen Krull's latest biography flies in the face of such convention, daring children to resist the status quo, to take a stand and to, yes, fight.
This past Saturday San Antonio honored the legacy of Cesar E. Chavez with a march to the Alamo - the mission, not the premiere. But how much do we really know about the noble migrant laborer who passed away peacefully in his sleep 11 years ago? How much do our children know about this Chicano organizer - only the second Mexican American to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom?
With broad brushstrokes and soft, warm tones, Krull and illustrator Yuyi Morales paint a picture of a quiet, peaceful man who was compelled by injustice, greed and racism to overcome his own fears and insecurities.
The story begins on a summer night upon the lush, utopian, magical fields of his grandfather; family that relaxes after a long, but satisfying day working the land surrounds Cesar.
Watching young Cesar run away from school on the first day of class back to the loving embrace of his gentle mother, the reader relates, beginning to see the human being behind the legend.
To drought and depression paradise is soon lost and the Chavez family must strike out towards California to seek out new opportunities, a new Promised Land.
But Cesar finds instead an oppressive blanket of harsh reality, patched together by insecticides, calluses, short-handled hoes and pennies a day for backbreaking work. After many brutal hours under the unrelenting sun his family returns to a shack with no doors in an overcrowded shantytown. And school provided no refuge, either, as teachers torment Cesar for his poor English.
Through these difficult pages he appears downtrodden, quiet, sad, fearful. As injustice is heaped upon his shoulders Cesar quietly bears his load.
But he remembers his early childhood, knows "Farmwork did not have to be this miserable" and gradually Cesar realizes things will never change by themselves - he must force change.
The book then details the nonviolent means Cesar used to battle oppression and stand up for the rights of migrant workers, returning a sense of pride and hope to a people long deprived of these basic human needs. Krull recounts in simple language the first meeting of the National Farm Workers Association, the grape picker strike of 1965 and the subsequent March to Sacramento from the San Joaquin Valley.
Morales' sweeping images use few straight lines, so the rigid black eagle of the NFW and the large banner reading "HUELGA" stand in stark contrast, anchors providing the weight due such monumental matters in a book washed over in light acrylic and pastels.
But the pictures match the man - mild and unassuming, with the strong, black eagle representing the warrior spirit of the Aztec imbedded inside.

Cesar Chavez demonstrated the power of unity and organization. And "Harvesting Hope" begins to show that a person with tenacity and compassion spurs change from the way things are to the way things should be.
Unfortunately, this is a lesson that may go largely untaught in a school system dedicated to keeping our children in line and outbursts to a minimum, making Krull's work that much more necessary and relevant.

In her author's note, Kathleen Krull points out that Cesar Chavez continues to remain a controversial figure in the United States today. The fact of the matter is, he followed perfectly in the footsteps of the men he admired; St. Francis of Assisi, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, and Gandhi. Helping to lead migrant workers in the first successful agricultural strike the U.S. had ever known, he is best remembered worldwide as a hero. In her book, Krull follows Chavez from a happy early childhood in Arizona to an unpleasant shift to the fields of California. As we watch, Cesar grows from a boy forced to endure the humiliations of the fields (and the poor schooling as well) to a man capable to leading workers in a non-violent protest against the grape growers of Southern California. Especially impressive are the ways in which Krull ties in young Cesar's lessons about life (his mother cautioning him to use one's head to work through conflicts) with their actual implementation years later. Illustrated by Yuyi Morales, the book looks like nothing so much as Jonah Winter's fabulous biography of Frida Kahlo. Beautiful surreal images meld with sweeping panoramas of a life of difficulty. You'll find yourself reading it over and over again just to look at the pretty pictures.

The fact of the matter is, there's not a single misstep in this book. Anyone familiar with the previous Pura Belpre winner, "Esperanza Rising" will see that this book succeeds where "Esperanza" was apt to fail. But, quite frankly, it's unfair to compare the two. Fiction will always pale in comparison to well-written non-fiction. In this book you have an honest story told simply with an elegance all its own.

"César reprimió la amargura que le causaba haber perdido su hogar y empezó a trabajar junto a su familia. Era pequeño y no muy fuerte, pero un trabajador incansable. Casi cualquier cultivo era un tormento. Arrancar betabeles le desgarraba la piel entre el dedo pulgar y el índice. Los viñedos rociados con pesticidas le irritaban los ojos y le hacían difícil la respiracíon. La lechuga era lo peor de todo. Plantar lechuga con un azadón de mango corto le causaba espasmos de dolor por toda la espalda. Trabajar la tierra de otros en vez de la propia, le paracía ser una forma de eslavitud.
"La familia Chávez hablaba constantemente de ahorrar lo suficiente para poder volver a comprar su rancho. Pero al atardecer, la familia entera había ganado no más de treinta centavos por todo un día de trabajo. Conforme pasaban los años, hablaban cada vez menos del rancho."

That's right, a total of thirty cents pay for a long, backbreaking day of labor put in by the whole family!

Oh. You didn't understand that the first time because it was in Spanish? Hey! What's wrong with you?

"The towns weren't much better than the fields. WHITE TRADE ONLY signs were displayed in many stores and restaurants. None of the thirty-five schools Cesar attended over the years seemed like a safe place, either. Once, after Cesar broke the rule about speaking English at all times, a teacher hung a sign on him that read, I AM A CLOWN. I SPEAK SPANISH. He came to hate school because of the conflicts, though he liked to learn. Even he considered his eighth-grade graduation a miracle. After eighth grade he dropped out to work in the fields full-time."

When Cesar was young, his mother cautioned him and his siblings "against fighting, urging them to use their minds and mouths to work out conflicts."

And so, instead of punching out those people responsible for making his family's life so tough, Señora Chavez's son grew up to be a disciple of Gandhi and of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Cesar organized migrant workers one by one, persuaded them to go on strike against grape growers, and led them on a march of over 300 miles to Sacramento, thus obtaining the first contract for farmworkers in American history.

As Kathleen Krull reiterates in her author's note, "Before [Chavez] formed the National Farm Workers Association, [farm] workers had...the longest hours, lowest wages, harshest conditions, shortest life spans, and least power of any group of workers in America."

Krull also explains how Chavez would go on hunger strikes as a publicity tool for achieving economic justice for the migrant workers. (This strategy had worked well for both Gandhi and, earlier, for the Suffragists. Sadly, while also effective for Chavez, it eventually killed him.)

HARVESTING HOPE: THE STORY OF CESAR CHAVEZ (the title of the English language version) is an essential biography for elementary and middle school libraries about one of America's greatest civil rights leaders. It is written in the 32 page picture book format and illustrated with brilliant, Caldecott-quality acrylic paintings by Yuyi Morales who trekked through the fields and vineyards for inspiration.

Before sharing this book--the English edition--with her eighth-grade English students last month, my wife Shari asked her students about Cesar Chavez. Despite being raised in California where Cesar did all of his groundbreaking work, not one in a hundred of these students knew anything significant about Chavez. A couple had heard of him--thanks to there being streets and plazas named in his honor.

The book has unfortunately been mislabeled as being for ages 6-9. In reading it to a class of 8-10 year olds, I found those students did not have the same firm grasp of the vocabulary and concepts (union organizing, contracts, walking 300 miles, owning 80 acres, etc.) that makes it a more ideal fit for middle schoolers. (Yes, this review will serve as my nomination of the book for the California Young Reader Medal in the Picture Books for Older Readers category.)

As with great books about other important and inspirational leaders who have devoted their lives to change for the better, HARVESTING HOPE: THE STORY OF CESAR CHAVEZ provides fertile ground for planting a seed of activism in the hearts of young readers. Hopefully, the book will also provide inspiration for celebrating Cesar Chavez Day (March 31st) in significant fashion, as we do with Martin Luther King Day.

(And if you would like to read, or read aloud, an unforgettable speech about Martin--Lessons of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.-- that was given by Cesar Chavez on Martin Luther King Day, 1990, you can find it on the San Francisco State University site at http://www.sfsu.edu/~cecipp/cesar_chavez/cesarmlk.htm .)