Cesar Chavez: A Hero for Everyone

by Gary Soto, Lori Lohstoeter (Illustrator)

¡Viva la causa!
¡Viva César Chávez!
Up and down the San Joaquin Valley of California, and across the country, people chanted these words. Cesar Chavez, a migrant worker himself, was helping Mexican Americans work together for better wages, for better working conditions, for better lives.
No one thought they could win against the rich and powerful growers. But Cesar was out to prove them wrong -- and that he did.

80 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2003

About the author

Gary Soto is the author of eleven poetry collections for adults, most notably New and Selected Poems, a 1995 finalist for both the Los Angeles Times Book Award and the National Book Award. His poems have appeared in many literary magazines, including Ploughshares, Michigan Quarterly, Poetry International, and Poetry, which has honored him with the Bess Hokin Prize and the Levinson Award and by featuring him in the interview series Poets in Person. He has received fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Guggenheim Foundation. For ITVS, he produced the film “The Pool Party,” which received the 1993 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Film Excellence. In 1997, because of his advocacy for reading, he was featured as NBC’s Person-of-the-Week. In 1999, he received the Literature Award from the Hispanic Heritage Foundation, the Author-Illustrator Civil Rights Award from the National Education Association, and the PEN Center West Book Award for Petty Crimes. He divides his time between Berkeley, California and his hometown of Fresno.

Reviews

[Crys · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. The book is well-paced and keeps the reader interested throughout the whole story. We are having students read this book and pairing it with some written/creative assignments in order for them to be able to go on a field trip to see the new Cesar Chavez movie that comes out at the end of March. I recommend this book for students in the middle grades!

[Carmen Patino · Rating 4 out of 5]

Life of Cesar Chavez, a hero, history.

[Liz]

Great Biography! I learned a lot as I read it with my 4th grade!

[Julia Miller · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book, though written in a style that a fourth grader might comfortably puruse, goes deeply into the inequities rarely touched upon in history class. It shows us the suffering and racism Cesar saw, his willingness to fight for other groups as well as latinos (noteably, Whites and Filipinos), and even explains a chapter of American history most don't know about, the Bracero Program.
(This was when Mexicans were actively recruited to come work in the US around WWII. It is directly related to numerous immigration and labor issues still discussed today.)

Despite the difficult themes, I feel this is written respectfully enough to keep in a 4th through 8th grade classroom. I might offer selections to students, but would not be likely to use the full text, despite enjoying the book throughly myself. This would be a great one to have on display on Cesar Chavez Day (March 31)