Book Description
for Strike! by Larry Dane Brimner
From Cooperative Children's Book Center (CCBC)
A substantial work of nonfiction chronicles the efforts of farm workers to unionize and fight for better pay and working conditions in the 1960s and 1970s. The narrative emphasizes the efforts of César Chávez and Dolores Huerta, and the formation of the United Farm Workers of America. But author Larry Dane Brimner also discusses Larry Itliong and the organizing efforts of Filipino farm workers, whose decision to walk off the job in the Delano grape fields in 1965 was a huge impetus for the activism that followed. He also discusses the ongoing tension that existed between Filipino and Chicano worker organizations, though they eventually merged. Chávez is portrayed as a flawed but passionate activist in this detailed look at the politics within the activist organizations, and the political and social realities they were battling. Ample black-and-white photographs enrich this detailed history that resonates in myriad ways today, from issues of food and worker safety and fair pay to working conditions and the roles of immigrants in our work force. End matter includes a timeline, suggestions for further reading, and detailed source notes in this thoroughly researched history that drew in part on the author’s interviews and other primary source materials. (Age 13 and older)
CCBC Choices 2015. © Cooperative Children's Book Center, Univ. of Wisconsin - Madison, 2015. Used with permission.