Review On the shelf
n By Mark Metcalf
The life of Salinas’ Latin American pickers
Mi papá es un agrícola, My Father, the Farmworker, by J. Ramon Perez, published by Lil Libros. (RRP £16.99).
This beautifully illustrated young children’s book, written in Spanish and English, illuminates and pays tribute to Latin American agricultural wage labourers and small landowners in the USA.
J. Roman Perez’s Mexican father was a member of this rural working class in the fields surrounding the city of Salinas, California, better known as the ‘Salad Bowl Capital of the World.’
As a youngster the author combined working with his father picking crops whilst studying in school to bolster his future opportunities. He is thankful that working under the sun and rain made him understand what his parents had to experience to provide him and siblings with a better life.
By combining with artist Jose Ramirez, Perez has done a fine job of
bringing alive in such a colourful, simple and loving fashion the life story of his father and millions like him
across the globe who harvest natures gifts of fruits and vegetables.
Children and adults are in for an educational treat as the book highlights how these essential food producers work from dawn to dusk, rising as the sun breaks through before grabbing a cup of coffee whilst his wife prepares food for the whole family.
Driving to work the agricultural labourer then walks thousands of steps on ‘Mother Earth’ before working tirelessly with his hands and back in the fields, planting, harvesting and tending to crops which once ready for market are packed and hoisted on shoulders to be transported on to trucks.
Rain washes away the sweat of the hot sun and as day turns to night the cold sky turns hands numb and with each breath small clouds form. Cold hands crack. Eyes become covered with salt before the emerging darkness brings
the relief of
the end of
an exhausting day and a drive home under the Moon.
If there is defeat in the eyes as he arrives home then it must be controlled amidst the dreams of a rosier future for his children who are seen with his wife reading together and enjoying each other’s company.
Of course, for this future to become a reality for all Latin American agricultural wage labourers and small landowners in the USA and elsewhere then much work has still to be done.
Yet, by highlighting the problems then Perez and Ramirez have done a great job in allowing the reader to more easily understand and show solidarity with a much unappreciated group of workers.
38 uniteLANDWORKER Spring 2024
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