The book that I read is called "Voices from the Fields." It was published by Little,Brown and Company in 1993. This book is written by S. Beth Atkin. She writes this book to give a voice to the children of farm workers whom she interviewed and thinks are the most exploited people in our country. She herself once lived like that and she just wanted people to take notice that these kids are going through a lot of hardships and deserve a right to tell about their suffering. I thought this book was very interesting and engrossing. At first I looked at the cover and thought it was going to be sort of a silly book but actually it is a book that speaks of the problems that farm workers and their children have to deal with. After a while, I kind of wanted to read the book so much that I got into it and did not notice it was the last chapter. This book surpassed my expectations and I think that although it was a short book, it was one of the best ones I have read.

The author had experienced that in her life and it was kind of personal for her and writing this book and hearing a lot of these kids speak about their life really reminded her of herself. So when you read the book you should take that in to account because the author is giving a voice to herself not just the kids she interviewed.

This book contains many interesting stories and I am just going to tell you about the best ones. The first story is about a girl named Andrea Martinez who is from Mexico but is a Zapotec Indian. When she came to the United States she could not speak English nor Spanish so she had problems adjusting here. It was tough on her because her classmates that spoke English did not like her and then her Spanish speaking classmates ostracized her because she did not speak Spanish. Her mother had moved here because she was looking for work and started working in the grape fields. She had moved here with her brother Francisco and her mother.

I think that I had to deal with some of that because when I came from Puerto Rico my English was not very good and people use to make fun of me. Like her I was teased but I tried to concentrate on school. When she speaks of that it somewhat reminds of myself.

Then there is the story of Victor Machuca who was fifteen when he came to the U.S. Like many Mexican and Mexican-American children he speaks of the importance of family and the strong bonds that exist is in families. Although his parents are working on the fields and doing farm work they always try to encourage him to get his education and go to college so he will not have to work as hard as they have to to survive. This shows something very important: in life you need a strong relationship with your family. In his story you see that as they face more problems their family rallies around each other and become closer. I feel like that I want to have that type of relationship with my family.

The third story that I really found interesting is one about a guy named Frank Rosas. He was seventeen and moved here to the U. S. three years earlier. Frank was faced with difficulties adjusting to life in the U. S. and really found it difficult here. He went to many different schools and ended up at a school in Salinas, California where there was a lot of problems with gangs. He use to hang out with some buddies just to help each other with homework but then a gang started problems with them and they became a gang called the V.L.K's. After they started defending themselves they forgot about school and began to get in to a lot of fights. He says that there is some bad things about gangs but there is some good thing. He says he joined because he was having problems at home and needed someone to talk to.

I think that it is sad that he joined because he had no one to talk to. There should always be somebody that you can talk to when you are having problems. Unlike other gang members who joined for protection,drugs,and liquor he speaks of how he did not use any drugs or liquor. He ended up quitting with the help of his brother and his family. His brother got him on the right track and helped him to turn his life around.

You see that all the kids that moved here from Mexico all had problems adjusting with the language here and getting used to school and getting good grades. They all have a close relationship with their families and have a strong commitment to family and cherish the type of bond they share with their families.

This book is for people of all ages because it deals with the importance of family and how you have to work hard. The book is at a language that everyone can understand and it is pretty easy to understand. When you read of all the problems that these people have to deal with it makes you think of how we are lucky that our lives are not that hard and we should not take for granted how much we are blessed with. So go out and buy the book because it is worth more than the $17.95 it cost.