Harvesting Hope: The Story of Cesar Chavez

Book Description

Cesar Chavez is known as one of America's greatest civil rights leaders. When he led a 340-mile peaceful protest march through California, he ignited a cause and improved the lives of thousands of migrant farmworkers. But Cesar wasn't always a leader. As a boy, he was shy and teased at school. His family slaved in the fields for barely enough money to survive.

Cesar knew things had to change, and he thought that--maybe--he could help change them. So he took charge. He spoke up. And an entire country listened.

An author's note provides historical context for the story of Cesar Chavez's life.

Customer Reviews:

A beautiful children's book with an illustrated personal story and a larger message.......2006-09-09

Harvesting Hope tells the tale of Cesar Chavez, but more than that, it reveals the power of collective bargaining and fighting for what is just in the world. As a children's book, it has appeal as a well-illustrated biography, an important history lesson, a story of family and personal triumph, and a book with a message. Chavez's crusade took place several decades ago, but the plight of migrant farm workers remains, despite the tremendous inroads Chavez made with La Causa. The story of Chavez's childhood, hard days of labor, and fight for worker's rights is timeless, and Kathleen Krull's award-nominated book deserves a place on every child's bookshelf.

The story of a lesser known American Hero.......2006-02-22

This is a great picture book for all ages. The heroic story of Cesar Chavez is left out of most U.S. history classrooms, save those in California. This book would be an enlightening addition to any classroom or children's library.

Si Se Puede.......2005-06-08

Let's begin by saying that the drawings are super and captivating. Yuyi Morales creates characters that show emotion and the result is a drawing of emotion from the young reader. As the title implies this is the story of Cesar Chavez who many adults came to know about from his work with the farmworkers in California. This story humanizes the man by beginning in his childhood. The roots of the farmworker leader are explored as a young person traveling from crop to crop , from state to state. A drought in Arizona began the family oddyssey that would result in Caser Chavez becoming familiar first hand with the troubles of the farmworkers. Life on the road became a harsh reality. The treatment he encountered in school forced him to drop out in eighth grade but the treatment in the fields wasn't much better, at times it was much worse. This is simple story about a complex problem that one man was determined to overcome. He wanted justice for farmworkers and organized. He became to Mexicans what MLK was for civil rights, for Mexicans it was an extension of civil rights. This is a beautiful book for young readers or those not so young that are learning to read in English if they have a reading foundation in another language. Although it is recommended for children ages 6-9, middle school students, ages 9-12, especially those with limited English proficiency can benefit from this story well told. For the teacher or parent this book can help instill pride and understanding as to how determination, perseverance and hard work can overcome even the greatest odds.

Beautiful, educational, brought tears to my eyes!.......2004-11-25

I recommend this book for anyone 4 and up (adults included!) Beautiful illustrations and a wonderful telling of an important part of history.

Harvesting Hope is Hopeful.......2004-08-02

This story is a wonderful way to teach children about the people who have made a difference in our world. People like Cesar Chavez. The story beautifully illustrates how Cesar did not use violence to solve problems but rather he used his mind, as his mother had taught him. The illustartions are vivid and real. The story is well written and teaches an important part of California history in a wonderful way. It reaches the heart of all ages. This is a great book for any elementary school classroom library, even High School.

Sal Si Puedes (Escape If You Can): Cesar Chavez and the New American Revolution

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Do you really want to escape?
Sal Si Puedes means Escape If You Can

Sal Si Puedes (Escape If You Can): Cesar Chavez and the New American Revolution
Peter Matthiessen
Manufacturer: University of California Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0520225848

Book Description

In the summer of 1968 Peter Matthiessen met Cesar Chavez for the first time. They were the same age: forty-one. Matthiessen lived in New York City while Chavez lived in Sal Si Puedes, the San Jose barrio where his career as a union organizer took off. This book is Matthiessen's panoramic yet finely detailed account of the three years he spent traveling and working with Chavez. In it, Matthiessen provides a candid look into the many sides of this enigmatic and charismatic leader who lived by the laws of nonviolence.
More than thirty years later, Sal Si Puedes is less reportage than living history. A whole era comes alive in its pages: the Chicano, Black Power, and antiwar movements; the browning of the labor movement; Chavez's series of hunger strikes; the nationwide boycott of California grapes. When Chavez died in 1993, thousands gathered at his funeral. It was a clear sign of how beloved he was, how important his life had been.
A new postscript by the author brings the reader up to date as to the events that have unfolded since the writing of Sal Si Puedes. Ilan Stavans's insightful foreword considers the significance of Chavez's legacy for our time. As well as serving as an indispensable guide to the 1960s, this book rejuvenates the extraordinary vitality of Chavez's life and spirit, giving his message a renewed and much-needed urgency.

Customer Reviews:

Do you really want to escape?.......2004-06-02

Sal Si Puedes, by Peter Matthiessen, is an excellent chronicle of the adult life of the farm workers' revolutionary, Cesar Chavez. This Biography written by Matthiessen is from the day he meets Chavez to the time he passed away in 1992. Chavez was a activist for the rights of all farm workers, and believed that union representation was not only a privilege, but a right of all workers. With the installment of the Bracero program, non American people brought into the united states were allowed to work in the fields, because Lobbyists in Washington were successfully able to determine that no American was willing to do the back breaking manual labor of picking and harvesting the fields in California. This book was simply put, is the best book that I have read in my young adult life.
One thing that I enjoyed in this biography is the use of language. I found the linguistics easy to understand. With the easy language and prose writing, this made the biography an easy read. Because I spent a short time of my later childhood in Delano, Where the book took place, I knew exactly where everything was, and with his descriptive, powerful words, I felt like I was back in Delano. Stepping out of my own skin and looking at the book from a non-Californian's perspective, the description and detail is awesome.
Another thing I liked about the book was the accuracy of the historical fact. Family members of mine lived in the time of the farm workers movement, and after having discussed the biography with them, they, too, agree that the accuracy and detail of events that took place are superior. The chronicling of not only the personal life, but also business life of Chavez was easily understood, and Matthiessen did an excellent job with this Biography.

Sal Si Puedes means Escape If You Can.......2001-06-21

Am forever indebted to my mentor Bea Brickey for getting me involved with the United Farm Worker union locally, and for instilling in me the importance of getting involved and living by Christ's motto that what you do to the least of them you do to Christ.

The book begins with a reminder form Cesar Chavez himself, who said in 1992 two years before his death that "The rich have money, the poor have time". The reader is reminded that patience was his tool of success.

The book is just shy of 400 pages and is a humbling as well as an energizing read. The title Sal Si Puedes is from the San Jose barrio where Chavez' farm workers union work was birthed. The book was begun with a three year stint the author had in the late 70's with Chavez with much appreciated postscript that brings the reader up to date with the events that incurred since the 60's and 70's.

Bea would spend hours passing on the wisdom that Chavez and the other UFW activists had taught her. How she and her husband were often taunted by San Joaquin farmers and called commies and pinkos and how Chavez and the other UFW workers who simply wanted decent working conditions and a living wage were taunted like this as well. How migrant workers were/are exposed to high pesticide levels and that in one breath the farmers denounce the "slave" labour workers for wanting decent housing and wages, while bemoaning the fact that they can't find American who will do the damn stoop labour for slave wages.

This is a book I am passing on to a lot of people, since I believe it is so important that we as citizens, stand up for what is right and that sometimes people have to have their comfort levels challenged.

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read and learn

Cesar Chavez Merits a National Holiday !

a must read book

A great historical review of the "other" civil rights movement

Fight in the Fields

The Fight in the Fields: Cesar Chavez and the Farmworkers Movement
Susan Ferriss , Ricardo Sandoval , and Diana Hembree
Manufacturer: Harvest/HBJ Book
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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The Words of Cesar Chavez

The Moral Vision of Cesar Chavez

Sal Si Puedes (Escape If You Can): Cesar Chavez and the New American Revolution

Voices from the Fields : Children of Migrant Farmworkers Tell Their Stories

With These Hands: The Hidden World of Migrant Farmworkers Today

ASIN: 0156005980

Customer Reviews:

read and learn.......2007-01-04

"the fight in the fields" is an excellent biographical account of cesar chavez and the farmworkers movement. it's a must read for anyone interested in making a difference.

Cesar Chavez Merits a National Holiday !.......2006-11-24

"The Fight in the Fields" compelled me to recognize that Cesar Chavez is arguably the greatest humanitarian in US history. He tirelessly and peacefully campaigned on behalf of underpaid and overworked farmworkers and migrants who were forced to toil amidst toxic insecticides and pesticides. Chavez was profoundly influenced by Gandhi, Martin Luther King and St. Francis of Assisi. He was an environmentalist, a vegetarian and animal welfare advocate who denounced dogfighting, bullfighting, cockfighting, slaughterhouses and rodeos because they are all rooted in inhumane violence. Cesar Chavez had reverence for all life and was a paragon of compassion. He was known as America's Catholic Ghandi of the Fields. The United States should have a national Holiday for Cesar Chavez's birthday, specifically, March 31.

a must read book.......2006-11-04

This is a well written book and is fun to read.

A great historical review of the "other" civil rights movement.......2006-07-06

The authors did a great job of detailing the early childhood that shaped the future leader of the farm workers movement. They also do a great job of highlighting the trails, ups and downs of Cesar Chavez and the farm workers movement. One gets a good idea of just how bad conditions were before the movement and how much improvement has been made since the inception of the movement. It also touches the heart with the human aspect of the lives that were shackled in the old system and changed for the good with the reforms that were won. Cesar Chavez is a true humanitarian that should be mentioned with the likes of Martin Luther King and Gandhi. This is truly a must read.

Fight in the Fields.......2005-07-21

This is a book based upon the successful PBS/Sundance Film of the same name. While it has several wonderful attributes (some excellent and rare pictures), it does not stand up to the earlier work of London and Anderson in So Shall Ye Reap. In reality, this is more of a biography of Cesar Chavez than a careful review of agricultural labor history. In the end, I would buy it again/

Cesar Chavez: A Hero for Everyone (Milestone Books)

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If you're interested in learning about Cesar Chavez, read this book

Cesar Chavez: A Hero for Everyone (Milestone Books)
Gary Soto
Manufacturer: Aladdin
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0689859228

Book Description

¡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.

Customer Reviews:

If you're interested in learning about Cesar Chavez, read this book.......2007-02-26

Cesar Chavez and his family moved up and down California to work on farms. It was a hard life. Kids made fun of Cesar Chavez because he could only speak Spanish and wore raggedy clothes.

Because of what he saw as a kid, he wanted to help the farm workers. He wanted to make it so others did not have so suffer the way he and has family had.

I liked this book because it showed how one person can make a big difference. The one thing I did not like about this book is that it had some words that were hard to pronounce.

I would recommend this book to kids that are 10-14 years old. Although I had a hard time with some of the words, I think it is important for people to learn about Cesar Chavez.

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This is the most authentic book on Cesar Chavez ever!

Cesar Chavez: Autobiography of LA Causa
Jacques E. Levy , and Cesar Chavez
Manufacturer: W W Norton & Co Inc
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0393074943

Customer Reviews:

This is the most authentic book on Cesar Chavez ever!.......1999-03-03

I have read this book over twenty times. One major reason is that each time I get new insights into the life and genius of one of this centuries greatest and most brilliant American leaders.

The other reason is because I was priviledged to have worked beside Mr. Chavez during the time of this books writing. Every time I read it I can still hear the author, Jaques Levy, reading it in draft form to Cesar by flashlight as we traveled California and Arizona's highways and biways.

This is truly the closest Mr.Chavez ever came to writing his own book. Jaques Levy had a rare inside look at Cesar, his movement and his family. The combination of trust and journalistic integrity between Mr. Chavez and Jacques Levy made for a great book that covers and captures his actions, thoughts, ideas, trials, ambitions, hopes and dreams. Mr. Levy, together with Cesar Chavez, captures the essence of his formative years, those leading up to his becoming the first Mexican and American hero of this century.

Unlike any other author on Chavez, Mr. Levy captures several examples of Chavez's self taught brilliance and tenacity. He also clearly shows Chavez' ability to grasp any subject and his views on American and poor people's economics. I have read many of the others and having been on the spot while they were written can add that while most err somewhat to a great deal in covering basic facts, Jacques Levy's book is on the money.

If it is possible to get this book reprinted, it should be and I bet a Spanish version would sell a million copies.

Customer Reviews:

Beating the odds: A REAL American success story.......2004-01-03

The story of Cesar Chavez is one of a little guy beating the odds and winning. But it's not a typical American dream, rags-to-riches story. The foe that Chavez beat was systematic racist and economic oppression, and the uphill victory he finally achieved was justice. Chavez's great contribution was to show in his life and words that there are more powerful things than money and the power that money buys. Love, mutual respect, cooperation and community, a commitment to nonviolence, and a deep religious faith that affirms the dignity of all humans made in the likeness of God: these are the weapons that Chavez used, and they're what kept the movement he founded from becoming just another corrupt trade union.

In this anthology of his collected speeches and writings, Chavez's commitment to the biblical ideals of peace and justice flow with an elogance that matches the beauty of his life.

Three examples:

"We advocate militant nonviolence as our means for social revolution and to achieve justice for our people, but we are not blind or deaf to the desperate and moody winds of human frustration, impatience, and rage that blow among us. Gandhi himself admitted that if his only choices were cowardice or violence, he would choose violence. Men are not angels and the time and tides wait for no man. Precisely because of these powerful human emotions, we have tried to involve masses of people in their own struggle; and free men instinctively prefer democratic change and even protect the rights guaranteed to seek it. Only the enslaved in despair have need of violent overthrow." (p. 36)

"Organizing is difficult because in our capitalist society we believe the only way things get done is with money...[But] there isn't enough money to organize poor people. There never is enough money to organize anyone. If you put it on the basis of money, you're not going to succeed. So when we started organizing our union, we knew we had to depend on something other than money...since there wasn't any money and the job had to be done, there would have to be a lot of sacrificing." (p. 66)

"It is possible to become discouraged about the injustice we see everywhere. But God did not promise us that the world would be humane and just. He gives us the gift of life and allows us to choose the way we will use our limited time on this earth. It is an awesome opportunity...We can choose to use our lives for others to bring about a better and more just world for our children. People who make that choice will know hardship and sacrifice. But if you give yourself totally to the nonviolent struggle for peace and justice, you also find that people will give you their hearts and that you will never go hungry and never be alone. And in giving of yourself you will discover a whole new life full of meaning and love." (p. 167)

The Words of Cesar Chavez.......2002-12-02

This book has a lot of history in it and Cesar chavez is important to me.Im doing a history day project on him and its due tomarrow and this gives away more than what i need!...

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Cesar Chavez (People Who Made History)

Manufacturer: Greenhaven Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Board book

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ASIN: 0737712988

Book Description

From humble beginnings as a migrant laborer, César Chávez stood up against unscrupulous growers and championed the rights of farm workers. His efforts led to the founding of a union that fought to improve the lives of its poor and uneducated members.

Cesar Chavez: Leader for Migrant Farm Workers (Hispanic Biographies)

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Cesar Chavez: Leader for Migrant Farm Workers (Hispanic Biographies)
Doreen Gonzales
Manufacturer: Enslow Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Library Binding

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ASIN: 0894907603

Cesar Chavez (Graphic Biographies (World Almanac) (Graphic Novels))

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Cesar Chavez (Graphic Biographies (World Almanac) (Graphic Novels))
Elizabeth Hudson-Goff , Kerri O'hern , and Jonatha A. Brown
Manufacturer: Gareth Stevens Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Library Binding

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ASIN: 0836861957

Cesar Chavez (Photo-Illustrated Biographies)

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As long-time friend of Cesar Chavez, I like it.

Cesar Chavez (Photo-Illustrated Biographies)
Lucile Davis , and Cesar Chavez
Manufacturer: Bridgestone Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Library Binding

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ASIN: 1560655690

Customer Reviews:

As long-time friend of Cesar Chavez, I like it........1997-10-04

This book captures the man's 66 years clearly, with a variety of moods captured in the photos. Vocabulary level seems a little big for youngest readers, but generally words like "strike" and "boycott" are nicely defined. Adults will enjoy Susan Ferriss' FIGHT IN THE FIELDS which shows Cesar and the entire farm worker organizing movement quite readably. I'd like to communicate with Lucile Davis if someone hooks us up.

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