Book Review: Harvesting Hope: The Story of Cesar Chavez
October 28, 2009

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Krull, Kathleen. 2003. Harvesting Hope: The Story of Cesar Chavez. Ill. by Yuyi Morales. New York : Harcourt, Inc. ISBN 0152014373

This is a children’s biography about Cesar Chavez who led and achieved the Farm Workers Labor Rights with peaceful protest fighting for better treatment and laws to protect the farm workers. Ms. Krull and Ms. Morales bring this well documented and colorful illustrated book to inform and entertain readers through the aesthetic beautiful illustrations to tell and show us about Cesar Chavez’ life and how he saw the injustices committed against farm workers day in and day out.
Cesar Chavez grew up in the hot baking Yuma Arizona Desert in the 1930’s with immediate siblings and extended family like cousins. All of this comes to an end due to a natural disaster of drought. The family is overcome with sadness about living their vast amount of land behind to go to California in search of farming jobs. Cesar is home sick for the Arizona land and the good times the family had together in their eighty acre farm and their life as a family. His family and many other adult and children workers are forced to work long hours in the baking sun, have poor housing conditions, and are paid minimum wages.
He starts to organize people to begin speaking out against the farm owners. He doubted himself because he was shy and did not see himself as a leader but people begin to listen to him. He organized the non violence march to strike against the farm owners for better pay, living conditions. He overcame this because he felt committed to fight for better working conditions, better pay, and better living conditions.

CRITICAL ANALYSIS
Ms. Krull’s research is documented in this book with facts that can be traced back to history, and Yuyi Morales visiting the territory enhance her illustrations with acrylic bright vivid colors and some browns. Yuyi Morales shows the characters with joy in their faces when the family is in Arizona. She goes on and skillfully illustrates the characters with sadness in their faces and fear of the farm overseers.
Ms. Krull’s biography of Cesar Chavez does not focus on his life from birth to death. Instead, it concentrates on Cesar Chavez’ life as a young boy, man, and on his persistence and commitment to have better working conditions for the farm workers.
This story is written in chronological order and shows the character’s strengths and weaknesses. The author and illustrator show Cesar Chavez as a young boy enjoying the hot shimmering sun, swimming, and enjoying the night with his family in their eight acre farm in the Yuma Arizona baked desert. The characters have faces filled with happiness. All of this comes to an in the 1930’s because of a drought. Cesar’s family has to migrate to California in search of farming jobs. The family of six works from dawn until sunset and is under the hot sun all day. The illustrator shows Cesar working bending down showing him very tired and the darkened background complements the text.
The family of six earned thirty cents a week altogether and was unable to save money. Their living conditions were terrible; they lived in a shack without a door, damp, cracks in the walls, and the cold and heat coming in. Yuyi shows two children with sad faces sitting at the front door and a truck driving at sun down.
Ms. Krull and Ms. Morales show how a shy boy endured the injustices of farm owners, and how he became the champion for labor workers by recruiting people to fight peacefully against the farm owners. In 1965, Cesar Chavez and many farm workers went on “La Huelga” On Strike” against the Delano farm vineyard owners for better pay and living conditions. The owners decided to cut their pay even more. By this time, the grapes were ripe, and the workers went in full strike. The farm owners lost big money because the workers went on strike. The owners finally recognized that recognize the “National Farm Workers Association”. They promised a contract with better pay and better working conditions.


REVIEW EXCERPTS

Horn Book (July/August, 2003)
“Krull, author of the excellent Lives Of series and Wilma Unlimited (rev. 9/96), depicts Chavez's early life on his family's ranch in Arizona as almost idyllic. Then in 1937, when he was ten, drought forced his family to give up the ranch and move to California. Migrant work was brutal, the conditions atrocious, and the pay minimal. Showing how Chavez developed into an advocate and spokesman, Krull focuses on the march he led from Delano to Sacramento as part of a grape-pickers strike; she offers vivid details of the over-three-hundred-mile march: "Cesar developed painful blisters right away. He and many others had blood seeping out of their shoes." The brief text creates a remarkably complex view of Chavez--his experiences and feelings. Krull's empathetic words are well paired with artist Yuyi Morales's mixed-media acrylic paintings, which are suffused with a variety of emotions, especially fear and sorrow…”
From School Library Journal
Grade 3-6-The dramatic story of Chavez's 340-mile march to protest the working conditions of migrant farm workers in California is the centerpiece of this well-told biography. Readers meet Chavez at his grandparents' home in Arizona where he lived happily amid a large extended family. His childhood was cut short when, due to financial difficulties, the family was forced to move to California to seek employment. After years of laboring in the fields, Chavez became increasingly disturbed by the inhuman living conditions imposed by the growers. The historic 1965 strike against grape growers and the subsequent march for "La Causa" are vividly recounted, and Chavez's victory-the agreement by the growers granting the workers better conditions and higher pay-is palpable. While sufficient background information is provided to support the story and encourage further research, focusing on one event makes the story appealing to younger readers. The text is largely limited to one side of a spread; beautifully rendered earth-toned illustrations flow out from behind the words and onto the facing page.
Sue Morgan, Tom Kitayama Elementary School, Union City, CA
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

CONNECTIONS
This story would add understanding to a study about civil rights. Similarities and differences could be compared between the civil rights stories of Mexican Americans and African Americans.
Other Books about Mexican American Struggles
Perez, L. King. First Day in Grapes. ISBN 9781584300458Ada, Alma Flor. Gathering the Sun: An Alphabet in Spanish and English. ISBN 9780688139032