Cesar Chavez (Scholastic First Biographies)

by Jerry Tello, Stephen Marchesi (Illustrator)

Publisher's Note
A profile of Cesar Chavez, the Mexican American union leader who fought to get migrant farm workers better wages.

Genres: Biography

Paperback

Published October 1, 2004

Reviews

[Chloe Kauff]

It is a kids book in Spanish. I appreciated the quick read as an adult who is learning about Mexican American influence in the US. Sometimes I need the kids version before going to deep on any topic

[Allyson Goose · Rating 3 out of 5]

Biography of an inspiring, powerful leader that is geared toward younger elementary schoolers. I wish the book had been more engaging, either in the word choice or in brighter illustrations, but it was easy to read. (We’ve been reading a lot of Ordinary People Change the World biographies, which are much cuter.) I’m glad my kids now know a bit about César Chavez, migrant workers, and labor organizing. Could work well for English language learners.

[Robin · Rating 3 out of 5]

SMART 1H 2018

[Kelly Chester · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very educational lots of interesting facts

[Anthony Mitchell · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent biography picture book about an Hispanic American leader named Cesar Estrada Chavez,born in 1927. He moved to California with his family ,as a small child, because family need to find work. Chavez went to 37 different schools in California by the time he was in 8th grade, due his family seeking work picking fruit and vegetables in the fields. He would grow up to form the United Farm Workers in California.


I really enjoyed reading this book to my son, because he taught him about the proud Hispanic heritage in America. The line from the book that stood out was,'He learned an important lesson from his mother. She told him that all people deserved respect.' I also noticed how my son was fascinated by the fact that Chavez taught field workers how to read and write and speak up for their rights.

The best classroom connection is for my students to list all the good deeds that the book talked about for Chavez, such as joining the Navy and serving his country,starting the United Farm Workers,and even fasting for 25 days in protest of farm workers rights.

The interest level grade for this book is listed as Kindergarten. Grade equivalent is 2.3, which means a 2nd grade student in the month on December should be able to comprehend this book independently.