 | | |
| Barefoot Heart: Stories of a Migrant Child | 
 enlarge | Author: Elva Trevino Hart
Publisher: Topeka Bindery
Category: Book
Buy New: $28.05
Buy New/Used from $18.65
Avg. Customer Rating:  (62 reviews)
Sales Rank: 2541851
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Unknown), English (Published)
Media: School & Library Binding
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 8.7 x 5.6 x 1
ISBN: 0613242955
Dewey Decimal Number: 973.0468720092
EAN: 9780613242950
ASIN: 0613242955
Publication Date: March 2001
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
|
| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
A vividly told autobiographical account of the life of a child growing up in a family of migrant farm workers. It brings to life the day-to-day existence of people facing the obstacles of working in the fields and raising a family in an environment that is frequently hostile to those who have little education and speak another language. Assimilation brings its own problems, as the original culture is attenuated and the quality of family relationships is comprimised, consequences that are not inevitable but are instead a series of choices made along the way. It is also the story of how the author overcame the disadvantages of this background and found herself.
|
| Customer Reviews: Read 57 more reviews...
 Hart Speaks to the Heart November 5, 2008
My book club chose "Barefoot Heart," and we all thoroughly enjoyed it. Our discussion was a lively one, focusing on Elva's father. Was he unspeakably cruel or the rock of his family? Hart doesn't analyze her parents, siblings or her circumstances. She merely lays out her story in language that, like the desert, is at once sparse and beautiful. I couldn't put it down and now I can't get the images out of my mind, or the questions that were raised about Elva's childhood out of my heart. "Barefoot Heart" is a treasure!
 Student Working April 6, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I am doing a little research on this book for a school project. I have never heard of this book, or the author until this project. I think that Hart had a very interesting life. Even though bland and unfortunate, still interesting. It is a lot different than what a lot of kids today expirience. A lot of us, including me, take advantage of an education. Back in the day, education wasn't something that was handed to everyone. Because of that, most kids would look forward to school and do their very best while attending. Nowadays, school is a requirement and is enforced by the law. A lot has changed since her days. I think that this is a good book for children to read, as well as adults, so that by doing so, you may start to view life in a different perspective. I think that book is sad, but also makes you smile when you see how a simple story can change someone's life dramatically. Than again, times have changed and we have free access to books, radio, interent, TV, and movies. Yes, there are still some poorer families, but we have libraries that offer all of these things for free. It seems like this book would have a change of heart in alot of people, slightly or dramatically, it would have an effect either way.
Every Latino Should Read This Book, Too! August 26, 2006
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
First, I must say that this book is one of the most touching stories I have ever read because I can relate to so much of it. Secondly, there are so many coincidents in this book. For one, I was born in Pearsall, Texas, and now live in Washington, DC, and my mother, who is Mexican-American and about the same age as the author, was also a migrant worker who would travel with her parents and siblings to other states to pick vegetables. Made me wonder if my mom and Elva ever crossed paths. However, unlike Elva, neither my mom or her siblings were fortunate enough to finish high school,let alone attend college. Growing up, my mom would tell me stories about her childhood and the hardships she had to endure working in the fields alongside her family. My mother told me how she and her siblings always started school around October because that's usually when the harvests were over. She remembers being very ashamed that each year she was always behind in school and no matter how hard she tried she could never manage to catch up. Back then in south Texas, a good public education was hard to come by, especially if you were a female and a minority from a poor family. In her naivete, my mother saw marriage as the only way out of a life full of hardship and humiliation. At the age of 16 she married my father and eventually had 5 children. My mother's stories and my own memory of my parents struggling to make ends meet are what kept me pushing through college and grad school. Although I have no kids of my own, if I did, I would also regale them with my mother's migrant stories in hopes that it would make them appreciate all the advantages and opportunities available to them now. Too many Latino kids nowadays take education for granted and fail to put forth the effort needed to succeed academically. They spend too much time thinking about frivolous things like cars; fashion; dating; and the latest pop singers. Maybe if they all read this book, our Latino kids would appreciate the struggles their parents and grandparents went through and would get off their butts and do their homework. I did and it has paid off.
 Barefoot Heart: Stories of a Migrant Child March 21, 2006
1 out of 13 found this review helpful
IN Elva Trevino Hart's Barefoot Heat A young female migrant worker spends her summers on the side of a field watching the rest of her family hoe vegtables
An engaging memoir October 29, 2005
7 out of 8 found this review helpful
Elva Trevino Hart has managed an impressive feat with this book. She recounts the depravations of her childhood without making you pity her. She also recounts the small joys she had growing up without giving the impression that these somehow made up for her poverty.
It is rare to read a memoir where the author seems like such a real person. Hart's description of her family and history manages to be simultaneously matter-of-fact and deeply personal and emotional. While a northern gringo like me will probably never be able to relate to the experience of a Mexican immigrant family, this book greatly increased my understanding of Mexican-American culture and experience.
|
|
|
Powered by Associate-O-Matic
| | |