Diego: Bigger than Life

author: Carmen T. Bernier-Grand

illustrator: David Díaz

Marshall Cavendish, 2009

grades 7-up

Mexican

Here is Diego Rivera, the revolutionary Mexican artist who sought justice for all poor and working people. Here is Diego Rivera, the woman-chaser, whose many marriages and extra-marital affairs were well known. Here is Diego Rivera, the storyteller and, some would say, master liar. The 34 poems here, in flawlessly executed free verse gathered mostly from Rivera’s own writings—and occasionally, from those of Frida Kahlo and the Mexican Communist Party—affirm the exhaustive amount of research that Bernier-Grand must have undertaken.

In the text of her work, the author chooses to leave Rivera’s perspectives virtually untouched, relegating unanswered questions and hypotheses to a helpful author’s note. In a piece entitled “The True Life of Diego Rivera,” Bernier–Grand raises the inconsistencies between Rivera’s writing and information available today—When Rivera was born, was the pale infant really thrown into a dung bucket? Was he really raised by an Indian wet nurse? Did the Mexican Communist Party really expel him, or did he expel himself? Here is where Bernier-Grand details the political and personal controversies of Rivera’s tumultuous life and work, as well as his many stormy dalliances, affairs and marriages. 

In addition to “The True Life of Diego Rivera,” there’s a short section entitled “In His Own Words.” Other back matter includes a glossary, a chronology of Rivera’s life, a list of sources, and copious notes that support Bernier-Grand’s research. This wealth of material will prove invaluable for student research and classroom projects, including, for example, a study of political mural art or that of point-of-view in published biographies and autobiographies.    

But it’s the biography itself that’s a veritable work of art. Here, Bernier-Grand, with an amazing economy of words, paints a portrait of a man who was, indeed, “bigger than life”:

As naturally as I breathe,

I painted in grand scale the colors of Mexico—

clearer, richer, more full of light than colors in Europe.

As naturally as I speak,

I painted in grand scale the music of Mexico

in markets, crowds, festivals—

Burning of the Judases, the Dance of the Deer.

As naturally as I sweat,

I painted in grand scale the workers of Mexico

in fields, mines, streets—

Indians carrying bundles of calla lilies.

A million public walls

wouldn’t be enough

to paint all the beauty of Mexico.

Diego: Bigger than Life is, indeed, an amazing mural of words. It is highly recommended.

—Beverly Slapin
(published 11/19/13; note added )

Note, 2/15/18: Multiple women have come forward with public statements that David Díaz sexually harassed them. After investigating claims against Díaz, the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) removed him from its board and conference faculty, and expelled him from the organization. Several other conferences have banned him as well. We have redacted our references to his art in this review.

Dolores Huerta: A Hero to Migrant Workers

author: Sarah Warren

illustrator: Robert Casilla

Marshall Cavendish, 2012

grades 2-5

Mexican, Mexican American

Dolores Huerta, born in New Mexico in 1930, was and is a strong Latina and is indeed a hero to agricultural workers everywhere. Yet, there are few picture books about her; if at all, she is generally depicted as secondary to César Chávez, together with whom she founded the National Farm Workers Association. In creating this excellent portrait focusing on Huerta’s efforts to empower migrant workers, first-time picture book author Warren remedies this shortcoming.

In Warren’s engaging, spare and accessible prose, complemented by Casilla’s vibrant watercolor-and-pastel illustrations, the workers are real people—young and elderly, afraid, worried, outraged and resolute. On each double-page spread, young readers will learn about the farm worker struggles in the 1960s and discover the reasons Huerta is a teacher, a detective, a friend, a warrior, an organizer, a storyteller, a peacemaker, a mother, a woman, a fortune-teller, and a hunter; and, coming full circle, a teacher. I use the word “discover” because Warren, demonstrating the best practices of teaching, shows rather than tells.

One of the early spreads describes how Huerta came to her work:

Dolores is a detective. She follows the kids home. She asks the moms why their kids are hungry and sick. She asks the dads why their children don’t have shoes. The parents say their bosses don’t pay them enough money for good food or new clothes or a visit to the doctor. These parents work hard. They pick grapes all morning. They pick grapes all afternoon. They pick grapes until night, but they are paid too little and shoes cost too much.

Casilla’s naturalistic paintings show Dolores Huerta as she grows and matures from a young teacher who questions why her young students have no shoes, to a seasoned labor organizer who “teaches people how to work as a team.” Here are the faces of Huerta with her children, of her tired and hungry students, of the desperate agricultural workers she organizes, and of the well-dressed bosses she confronts. The one defect is that all of the picket signs are depicted in English—except for one, in which the word “huelga” is partially obscured. I remember walking boycott picket lines in which many UFW banners and chants were in Spanish—most notably, “¡Huelga!” and “¡Sí, se puede!”

With a helpful annotated timeline and “learn more” page as backmatter, Dolores Huerta: A Hero to Migrant Workers is a celebration of Dolores Huerta’s life and leadership, and is highly recommended.

—Beverly Slapin
(published 7/10/13)

Cuban Kids

 
author: George Ancona

photographer: George Ancona

Marshall Cavendish, 2000

grades 3-up 

Cuban

While reading Cuban Kids, I remembered a documentary I saw several years ago about life in Cuba. In it, the filmmaker walked the streets, visited schools and factories, and interviewed everyday Cuban people. His questions seem to have been designed to portray Cubans as oppressed by the revolutionary government. He asked an ethnically mixed group of schoolchildren, for instance, if any of them had had any experiences with racism in their country. “Oh, yes,” they all said, excitedly, and an Afro-Cuban child answered for the group: “We read all about it in our textbooks.” Undeterred, this filmmaker asked a factory worker if there was any favoritism in Cuba. “Oh, yes,” she responded, and quoted the great revolutionary, José Martí: “Nada hay más importante que el niño.” Probably not what the filmmaker wanted to hear, but it was a telling documentary nonetheless.

Cuban Kids is an amazing photoessay by a talented photographer who visited the small island country to see what life was like 40 years after his first trip in 1957. Then, a small band of rebels was fighting in the mountains, the revolution was underway, and Havana was an armed camp. In 2000, when this book was published, the revolution was strong, the Cuban people were in charge of their destinies, education and medicine were free for everyone, kids came first—and the US embargo was still in place.

In vibrant, full-color photos, taken in both rural and urban parts of the country, we get to meet Cuba’s kids. Here are children celebrating the birth of José Martí, studying in school, visiting the town doctor, helping harvest sugar cane, working in an organic garden for extra school credit, playing soccer with a beat-up basketball, learning how to make books out of recycled materials, studying whatever courses interest them in the Palacio de los Pioneros, swimming in one of the Palacio’s three pools, practicing ballet, modern dance, Spanish Flamenco, and circus arts, and hanging out with their families.

Culturally rich and materially not so much, Cuba’s kids are strong, happy, healthy children who are loved and who know who they are. “Despite the hardships, the shortages, and the embargo,” Ancona writes, “Cuban kids are growing up with a love of their country, traditions, and culture. Their many skills will contribute to making a better future for Cuba and the world.” Cuban Kids is a treasure. Highly recommended.

—Beverly Slapin
(published 4/6/13)

Sonia Sotomayor: Supreme Court Justice

author: Carmen T. Bernier-Grand

illustrator: Thomas Gonzalez

Marshall Cavendish, 2010

grades 3-6 

Puerto Rican

Bernier-Grand’s elegant free verse shows, rather than tells, stories from the life of the first Latina Justice to be elected to the US Supreme Court. This is, in a sense, a family album of snapshots.

Here is baby Sonia, born “a Nuyorican, as American as mango pie.” Here she is as a three-year-old, speeding on her tricycle, about to scrape a freshly painted wall, because “tranquil Sonia is not.” Here is Mami, leaving food on the stove, in case the kids get hungry before she returns from work. Here is her Papi, who “makes the best mofongo in the South Bronx” and takes Sonia to baseball games.

Here are Sonia and her cousins in Bronxdale, “the core of her universe.” In Bronxdale, where the buildings look like dominoes, the cousins play bingo with chickpeas, while Papi cooks and Mami and the Tias dance to the rhythm of the merenge on the record player. Here is Sonia vacationing in Puerto Rico, savoring a sweet syrupy piragua, playing jacks with her cousins, and being lulled to sleep by the “kokee-kokee” songs of thousands of tree frogs.

Secure in the arms of a loving extended family and community, Sonia’s life, still, is not without struggle. In primary school, she hides a “shameful secret: Words in English have no meaning,” and at Princeton, she can “barely write a college paper.” But, as hard working and doggedly determined as her Mami, Sonia pushes herself and “finally conquers writing.” There have been many more battles in Sonia Sotomayor’s life; she has been through a lot and has emerged as, indeed, a “wise Latina” who brings to the Supreme Court bench a perspective rarely seen.

To add to but not overburden the picture-book format, Bernier-Grand includes a helpful appendix with a short biography, glossary of Spanish terms, chronology, bibliography, and source notes.

Gonzalez’s mixed-media artwork includes pastels, technical pens, and airbrush. The pictures that have been copied from actual photos especially complement Bernier-Grand’s textual “snapshots.” At the same time, several of the pieces show only the back of Sotomayor’s head, or a side view that does not show her face, or a wedding picture seen from the back, or her hands, literally “touching the sky.” These are off-putting and do not fit with the “snapshot” quality of the others, and I wonder why they were done this way.

In truth, Sotomayor’s face is very hard to capture. She’s a big, strong, Latina. She’s tough— always has been. In virtually every photograph I’ve seen of her as an adult, she has a full smile, sometimes forced. But in the cover illustration, Gonzalez softens Sotomayor’s appearance: in her judicial robes, she looks at least 20 years younger, her face is thinner, her hair is straighter, her mouth is closed, and she’s lost her under-eye puffiness. And the American flag and clouds behind her add an unnecessarily romantic touch.

Nevertheless, Sonia Sotomayor: Supreme Court Justice is highly recommended.

—Beverly Slapin

(published 4/6/13)

César: ¡Sí, Se Puede! Yes, We Can!

 

author: Carmen T. Bernier-Grand

illustrator: David Díaz

Marshall Cavendish, 2004

grades 2-6

Mexican American

In a powerful collection of lyrical, free verse poems rich in farm worker idiom, Bernier-Grand has reconstructed the life and work of the founder and organizer of the United Farm Workers. What makes these poems remarkable is that they not only chronicle the life of a brave and humble man, they also contain his own words. The back breaking work of thinning lettuces with a short-handled hoe, workers trying not to breathe in the deadly pesticides, people too tired to feel their hunger, and a prayer: “give me honesty and patience, so that I can work with other workers.” César: ¡Sí, Se Puede! Yes, We Can!, a Pura Belpré Honor Book, will help develop empathy in young readers, will help them understand the stuff and dreams that make heroes out of ordinary people.

The back matter includes source notes, a glossary of Spanish words, a brief biographical essay and chronology, and a selection of essential quotes. Although there is a Spanish-language version, it’s too bad that this otherwise excellent book is not bilingual. Highly recommended.

—Beverly Slapin
(published 4/6/13; paragraph redacted and note added 2/15/18)

Note, 2/15/18: Multiple women have come forward with public statements that David Díaz sexually harassed them. After investigating claims against Díaz, the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) removed him from its board and conference faculty, and expelled him from the organization. Several other conferences have banned him as well. We have redacted our references to his art in this review.