DOLORES HUERTA STANDS STRONG:
The Woman Who Demanded Justice

Written by Marlene Targ Brill
(Ohio University Press; $28.95 Hardcover, $14.95 Paperback, Ages 8-12 )

 

★Starred Reviews – Kirkus Reviews, School Library Journal

 

 

 

 

BOOK REVIEW

I’m so happy to have this opportunity, courtesy of MCBD 2019 and Ohio University Press, to share my thoughts about Marlene Targ Brill’s Dolores Huerta Stands Strong: The Woman Who Demanded Justice, an engrossing middle grade biography for young readers. This thoughtful and thoroughly researched book introduces tweens to a Chicana woman who was a force to be reckoned with. While I’d heard of Dolores Huerta, I had no idea of the important and influential role she played in farmworkers’ rights, women’s rights and other causes over the course of many decades.

The biography begins with Huerta being awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2012 by President Obama, quickly pulling us into the account by quoting her mother’s meaningful advice, “When you see people who need help, you should help them. You shouldn’t wait for people to ask.” And Huerta never waited. A Mexican-American, Huerta was born in 1930 during the Depression. Because times were tough, her father Juan, a farmworker, moved the family around based on where he could find employment. But “daily hardships” put a strain on the marriage. He divorced Huerta’s mother, Alicia, when Dolores was around five years old. That’s when Alicia moved the family to Stockton, California where Dolores’s life would be forever changed. With her good head for business, Alicia worked hard and started her own business, eventually buying “a small hotel in Stockton.” It was there that Dolores saw the compassionate and pro-active side of her mother who rented out rooms to low-wage workers for one dollar or for nothing at all.

Growing up in a diverse neighborhood, Dolores did not deal with racism and injustice personally until her high school years. Once she saw firsthand the harsh realities of discrimination there was no turning back. Encouraged by her mother to be true to herself, Huerta joined various social activities and had a keen ability to draw people together. This skill would be instrumental in her years as a union organizer as would her chattiness. Throughout her life, Dolores could talk to politicians as easily as she could to laborers. She felt compelled to give a voice to those who weren’t being heard.

After earning a teaching certificate, Dolores found a job but at the same time “grew frustrated knowing how difficult it was for her students to learn.” They were poor and “many students came from farmworker families.” These children were undernourished, dressed in rags and were likely living in squalor. Dolores knew she had to do something to help improve the lives of her students and that meant starting with their parents’ plight. She became involved with the Stockton branch of the Community Service Organization (CSO) which ultimately led to her leaving teaching. Despite having two young children, Dolores felt the move was for the best and that, no matter what, the family would manage. Dolores leaped into her new role working tirelessly to register people to vote, eventually coming on board as a full-time activist after meeting fellow CSO activist César Chávez. She lobbied legislators “to enact laws that would benefit poor and immigrant workers” and fought hard for the fair treatment of farm workers. Together with Chávez, Huerta formed an organization called The National Farm Workers Association (NFWA) to secure higher wages and better, healthier working conditions for union members. Perhaps one of the most significant events of the union was to join forces with the Filipino union and strike against grape growers. The Delano Grape Strike was supported by Senator Robert F. Kennedy and led to one major contract being signed for workers but there still was much more work to be done since other growers would not follow suit. A boycott of table grapes and non-violent protests yielded success for the movement, but for Dolores there were always more battles that needed fighting.

Dolores Huerta, as busy as she was, managed to give birth to 11 children and enjoyed a successful third marriage to Richard Chávez, César’s brother. While she suffered several setbacks in her life ranging from getting seriously “beaten to the ground” during a San Francisco march to a sometimes messy personal life, Huerta always looked forward to another cause, be it eliminating pesticides or increasing Hispanic women’s representation, where her activism could make a difference. Her children may not have had the constant presence of their mother as she traveled around the country pursuing justice for farmworkers, children, immigrants and women, but they believed in what she was doing. She taught them that standing up for people’s rights was not only admirable but essential, her lifeblood.

Targ Brill’s accessible biography begins with an author’s note and is then divided into nine chapters ending with Did You Know? questions. Also in the back matter is a timeline of Huerta’s life, a glossary, notes and a bibliography. Honest, well-crafted writing along with black and white archival photos bring Dolores’s story to life. There’s no greater compliment than having had a senator from Chicago, Barack Obama, use her unifying slogan, “Sí Se Puede”––”Yes, We Can” for his presidential campaign. As she approaches 89, Huerta’s accomplishments remain a powerful reminder of what one determined woman can accomplish when “No” is not a consideration.

ABOUT MCBD

Multicultural Children’s Book Day 2019 (1/25/19) is in its 6^th year and was founded by Valarie Budayr from Jump Into A Book and Mia Wenjen from PragmaticMom. Our mission is to raise awareness of the ongoing need to include kids’ books that celebrate diversity in homes and school bookshelves while also working diligently to get more of these types of books into the hands of young readers, parents and educators.

MCBD 2019 is honored to have the following Medallion Sponsors on board!

*View our 2019 Medallion Sponsors here: https://wp.me/P5tVud-
*View our 2019 MCBD Author Sponsors here: https://wp.me/P5tVud-2eN

Medallion Level Sponsors

Honorary: Children’s Book Council, The Junior Library Guild, TheConsciousKid.org.

Super Platinum: Make A Way Media

GOLD: Bharat Babies, Candlewick Press, Chickasaw Press, Juan Guerra and The Little Doctor / El doctorcito, KidLitTV,  Lerner Publishing Group, Plum Street Press,

SILVER: Capstone Publishing, Carole P. Roman, Author Charlotte Riggle, Huda Essa, The Pack-n-Go Girls,

BRONZE: Charlesbridge Publishing, Judy Dodge Cummings, Author Gwen Jackson, Kitaab World, Language Lizard – Bilingual & Multicultural Resources in 50+ Languages, Lee & Low Books, Miranda Paul and Baptiste Paul, Redfin, Author Gayle H. Swift,  T.A. Debonis-Monkey King’s Daughter, TimTimTom Books, Lin Thomas, Sleeping Bear Press/Dow Phumiruk, Vivian Kirkfield,

MCBD 2019 is honored to have the following Author Sponsors on board

Honorary: Julie Flett, Mehrdokht Amini,

Author Janet Balletta, Author Kathleen Burkinshaw, Author Josh Funk, Chitra Soundar, One Globe Kids – Friendship Stories, Sociosights Press and Almost a Minyan, Karen Leggett, Author Eugenia Chu, CultureGroove Books, Phelicia Lang and Me On The Page, L.L. Walters, Author Sarah Stevenson, Author Kimberly Gordon Biddle, Hayley Barrett, Sonia Panigrah, Author Carolyn Wilhelm, Alva Sachs and Dancing Dreidels, Author Susan Bernardo, Milind Makwana and A Day in the Life of a Hindu Kid, Tara Williams, Veronica Appleton, Author Crystal Bowe, Dr. Claudia May, Author/Illustrator Aram Kim, Author Sandra L. Richards, Erin Dealey, Author Sanya Whittaker Gragg, Author Elsa Takaoka, Evelyn Sanchez-Toledo, Anita Badhwar, Author Sylvia Liu, Feyi Fay Adventures, Author Ann Morris, Author Jacqueline Jules, CeCe & Roxy Books, Sandra Neil Wallace and Rich Wallace, LEUYEN PHAM, Padma Venkatraman, Patricia Newman and Lightswitch Learning, Shoumi Sen, Valerie Williams-Sanchez and Valorena Publishing, Traci Sorell, Shereen Rahming, Blythe Stanfel, Christina Matula, Julie Rubini, Paula Chase, Erin Twamley, Afsaneh Moradian, Lori DeMonia, Claudia Schwam, Terri Birnbaum/ RealGirls Revolution, Soulful Sydney, Queen Girls Publications, LLC

We’d like to also give a shout-out to MCBD’s impressive CoHost Team who not only hosts the book review link-up on celebration day, but who also works tirelessly to spread the word of this event. View our Co-Hosts HERE.

Co-Hosts and Global Co-Hosts

A Crafty Arab, Agatha Rodi Books, All Done Monkey, Barefoot Mommy, Biracial Bookworms, Books My Kids Read, Crafty Moms Share, Colours of Us, Discovering the World Through My Son’s Eyes, Descendant of Poseidon Reads, Educators Spin on it,  Growing Book by Book, Here Wee Read, Joy Sun Bear/ Shearin Lee, Jump Into a Book, Imagination Soup,Jenny Ward’s Class, Kid World Citizen, Kristi’s Book Nook, The Logonauts, Mama Smiles, Miss Panda Chinese, Multicultural Kid Blogs, Raising Race Conscious Children, Shoumi Sen, Spanish Playground

TWITTER PARTY Sponsored by Make A Way Media: MCBD’s super-popular (and crazy-fun) annual Twitter Party will be held 1/25/19 at 9:00pm E.S.T. TONS of prizes and book bundles will be given away during the party. GO HERE for more details.

FREE RESOURCES From MCBD

Free Multicultural Books for Teachers: http://bit.ly/1kGZrta

Free Empathy Classroom Kit for Homeschoolers, Organizations, Librarians and Educators: http://multiculturalchildrensbookday.com/teacher-classroom-empathy-kit/

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