Strike: the farm workers' fight for their rights by Larry Dane Brimner. 172 p. Calkins Creek/ Highlights, October 1, 2014. 9781590789971. (Finished copy courtesy of publisher for review.)
I'm sorry to say that I didn't know much about the migrant farmers. I always equated the United Farm Workers with Cesar Chavez. I am also embarrassed to admit that I never heard of Larry Itliong, nor did I know that there was a sizable number of Filipino field workers - enough for the growers to play the groups off of each other when faced with any worker wanting more pay or better conditions. Mr. Brimner's cogent narrative begins on September 8, 1965 and details the plight of the California farm workers within the context of the tension of the Sixties and the Great Depression as well. This strike/ boycott lasted for five long years seeing early supporter, Robert F. Kennedy's assassination.
Strike! is beautifully designed with colorful pages, large font size and plentiful black & white photos, maps and political cartoons to supplement the riveting text. I also liked that the captions and text boxes were in Spanish as well as English. Backmatter includes a timeline, source notes, bibliography and author note.
I always learn something when I read anything by Larry Dane Brimner. My first experience with Mr. Brimner's work was reading We are One: the story of Baynard Rustin was back in 2007, before I started blogging. In 2011, I found his 2010 book, Birmingham Sunday, which I reviewed here. Black and White, published a year later was equally compelling. Each of these would be great sources for the hero project our seventh grade does.
This is a 2014 favorite of mine and highly recommended for middle, high school and public libraries.
Thank you so much for your kind words.
ReplyDelete