Children's stories coincide with adults' discovery of Steinbeck's tale

By Linda Higham
CORRESPONDENT

Published Tuesday, June, 11, 2002

The California Council for the Humanities recently announced a three-year initiative called California Reads!, which is endorsed by many groups including the California Arts Council, California State Library, Center for the Book, California Teachers Association, and the Northern California Independent Booksellers Association.

Other cities across the country have had great success in implementing similar reading programs, selecting titles of particular significance to their own communities. John Steinbeck's Pulitzer prize-winning novel, "The Grapes of Wrath" is the first selection in this California Stories project. All are invited to read or re-read the book this summer and join with others in discussion groups in October.

While the project is directed at adults, families may wish to include children by selecting age-appropriate books that address the basic themes of Steinbeck's novel: the dust bowl, the Great Depression, migration to California, migrant workers. This summer time reading can be enriched by family discussions of the "California Stories" that are being read by both the adults and children in the family. A family trip to visit the Steinbeck Center in Old Town Salinas would surely enhance a child's understanding of the period and introduce him to a significant literary figure that looms in his future.

If you can't find your old college edition of "Grapes of Wrath", check it out of the library, borrow from a friend, or just buy a new copy and start reading. Remember to include the kids!

The following books are just a few recommended titles for the younger family members.

• "Tomas and the Library Lady" by Pat Mora, is written for ages 4 to 8. Tomas and his family are migrant workers who travel from state to state, harvesting crops. After a day of hard work, the family gathers for an evening of storytelling by Papa Grande. When they arrive in Iowa for the summer, Papa Grande encourages Tomas to go to the library in town and bring back new stories for the family to share. Through the kindness of the librarian, Tomas discovers the magical world of books. This is a lovely story of a close, hard-working family whose son, Tomas Rivera, became a writer, professor and was chancellor of the University of California at Riverside.
  
  
• "Voices From the Fields, Children of Migrant Farmworkers Tell Their Stories" by S. Beth Atkin is written for ages 10-14. Dedicated to Cesar Chavez and the children and families who work the fields in the Salinas Valley, this collection of interviews, stories and poetry is a window into the lives of children who work harder than many adults, face discrimination, and struggle mightily to obtain an education. Their dedication to family, hope for an improved life, and love of their culture is an example to us all.
  
  
• "Dust For Dinner" by Ann Turner is written for ages 4-7. Young children will appreciate the difficulties of farm life when the storms bring dust, not rain, and the crops are ruined. Jake and Maggy leave their farm behind after it is sold at auction and travel to California with their parents hoping for a more secure life.
  
  
• "Out of the Dust" by Karen Hesse, is written for ages 12 and older. Beautifully told in blank verse, this is the story of a family living in the dust bowl, and so devastated by tragedy, they stay behind when others leave for California. After her mother dies in an accident that leaves Billie Jo with physical and emotional scars, she realizes her father is lost in his own sorrow and she must rely on herself. Through her courage and strength Billie Jo finds peace.
  
  
• "Breaking Through" by Francisco Jimenez is written for ages 12 and older. In this sequel to "The Circuit," we have a matter of fact account of Mr. Jimenez's life growing up in migrant camps. Shining through the poverty, discrimination, and exhausting work, is the love of a family unified in purpose: work hard, help each other, honor and respect your family. Jimenez pays tribute to the teachers and other adults who helped him to see education as the way out of grinding poverty. The author is local and teaches at the Santa Clara University.