Migrant Labor

Spoiled, self-centered Esperanza loses her father, wealth and easy Mexican life and starts over as a California farm worker in the 1930s. Spanish words and magical realism grace this expansive, readable novel that is written from the heart.

Thirteen-year-old C.J. records in a journal the conditions of the Dust Bowl that cause the Jackson family to leave their farm in Oklahoma and make the difficult journey to California, where they find a harsh life as migrant workers. Part of the My Name is America series.

Beautiful paintings help to tell the story of Cesar Chavez, who grew up to lead a peaceful protest against California migrant workers' hard working conditions.

A Mexican father and mother love their children and want them to have all the opportunities they can so they travel a long way to work in the fields of California. But when it's Christmas, it's time to go home to Mexico and gather all the family together again for a special celebration.

Beautiful Esperanza has grown up in luxury at her father's ranch, but when her father dies as the Great Depression strikes Mexico, she and her sick mother must leave their home to go to work in the labor camps of Southern California.