Dolores Huerta: A Hero to Migrant Workers

First-time children's book author Warren creates a stirring portrait of activist Huerta, focusing on her efforts to improve the lives of migrant workers. In 1950s California, Huerta, then a teacher, was concerned about the welfare of many of her Spanish-speaking students. Visiting the children's migrant worker families, she learned about their unlivable wages and long hours spent picking grapes. When Huerta's challenges to the workers' bosses fell on deaf ears, she urged workers to strike and appealed to consumers not to buy grapes until the workers' demands were met. Warren writes in accessible if halting prose that celebrates Huerta's strengths: "Dolores is a storyteller. When the bosses won't change their minds, she tells stories that show why their farms are not healthy places to work." Casilla's naturalistic watercolor and pastel paintings convey the sensitivity, outrage, and determination of an activist who is still at work to this day. Ages 7-10. (Apr.)

Gr 2-5--In this engaging picture-book biography, Huerta is described as "a teacher...a detective...a friend...a warrior... an organizer...a storyteller..." and so much more. Warren introduces readers to the strong Latina leader, born in New Mexico in 1930, who became an advocate for migrant workers and vice president and cofounder of the National Farm Workers Association. She has received many awards, including the U.S. Presidential Eleanor D. Roosevelt Human Rights Award in 1998. In 2003 she created the Dolores Huerta Foundation, which trains people to advocate for fair and safe workplaces. Through spare, accessible text, youngsters learn about the conditions of California grape pickers in the 1960s, conditions that left workers' children hungry, shoeless, sick, and unable to see a doctor when they needed one. "Dolores is a peacemaker. She doesn't use violence to make the bosses pay attention; she grabs them with her words. She encourages the workers to use their voices, too, until the bosses learn how to be fair." Full-spread watercolor and pastel illustrations portray the desperate families, well-dressed bosses, hopeful activists, and Huerta in her myriad roles over the years. An annotated time line and "Learn More..." page are appended. This inspirational story is a good choice for Latino Heritage Month and Women's History Month.--Barbara Auerbach, PS 217, Brooklyn, NY