Side by Side/Lado a Lado: The Story of Dolores Huerta and Cesar Chavez/La Historia de Dolores Huerta y Cesar Chavez
This picture book pairs the dual stories of powerful activists C&#xE9;sar Ch&#xE1;vez and Dolores Huerta. When Ch&#xE1;vez was a child, his family lost their home and became migrant farmworkers, and Ch&#xE1;vez had to drop out of school to work. As an adult, he continued to work in the fields. When Huerta was young, she moved to California, where her mother let poor farmworkers stay at her hotel for free, and when she grew up, she taught farmworkers&#x2019; children. Each double-page spread features text in both Spanish and English, with Huerta&#x2019;s story on the left, and Ch&#xE1;vez&#x2019;s on the right-hand side. Cepeda&#x2019;s bright mixed-media images convey the dramatic stories. One scene shows Ch&#xE1;vez fleeing poisonous pesticides sprayed from an overhead plane, and in another, particularly striking spread, Ch&#xE1;vez and Huerta come together to lead a 340-mile march to demand better living and working conditions for farmworkers. A long final note aimed at parents and teachers will also draw young readers, who can move from this introduction to longer biographies of the inspiring leaders. Grades 2-4. --Hazel Rochman