A PICTURE BOOK OF CESAR CHAVEZ

In their umpteenth biography for younger audiences (albeit the first featuring a figure of Latino descent), the Adlers focus almost entirely on highlights of Chavez’s youth and public career as a labor leader but also convey a clear sense of his strong social conscience and his deeply rooted commitment to nonviolence. Likewise, in Olofsdotter’s stylized paintings, he and other figures are pictures of dignity and restraint, stiffly posed and showing only small, subtle signs of emotion. Though the presentation of historical events and the character portrait sketched here seem low key next to the more vivid, even passionate likes of Kathleen Krull’s Cesar Chavez: Harvesting Hope (illustrated by Yuyi Morales, 2003) or Carmen T. Bernier-Grand’s Cesar: Sí, Se Puede!/Yes, We Can! (illustrated by David Diaz, 2004), and the bibliography’s contents are older than the book's audience in both age and level, this is still a sturdy, worthwhile addition to the series and a primary look at a significant mover and shaker in our country’s social history. (Picture book/biography. 8-10)