Cesar Chavez: A Hero for Everyone (Milestone)
Gr. 3-5. As the book opens, in 1962, Chavez is knocking on the doors of California farm workers and explaining how a union would help them. The narrative turns back to Chavez's Depression-era childhood and follows his life chronologically, focusing on his struggle to organize and carry out a nonviolent movement to improve the lot of farm workers. Soto clearly shows how Chavez's outlook and determination were rooted in his boyhood experiences with poverty, injustice, and prejudice against Mexican Americans; he was later influenced by his meetings with activists and his admiration for pacifists. Readers who know little of Chavez will come away with a basic understanding of who he was and what he accomplished. Like other books in the Milestone Books series, this is designed for easy reading, with fairly large type and well-spaced lines, though the vocabulary is not oversimplified. Black-and-white illustrations appear throughout the book, and a bibliography is appended. A good, short biography of Chavez to pair with Kathleen Krull's picture bookHarvesting Hope[BKL Je 1 03].Carolyn PhelanCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved