Reviewed by Anne Floyd If you’re like me, you thought that the legal fight against segregation started at Brown v. Board of Education. Separate is Never Equal by Duncan Tonatiuh sets the record straight. In the Mendez v. Westminister School District case, 7 years before Brown v. Board of Education, Sylvia and her family successfully…
Reviewed by Jennifer Langreck No life is worth more or less than any other, right? Well, in The House of the Scorpion that becomes a more complex question. In this imagined future world, Mexico is now called Aztlán, and the border between Aztlán and the US has become its own country called Opium. Opium is…
Reviewed by Cristina Silvia Gleason Years before Brown vs. Board of Education’s monumental ruling ended segregation in American schools, a similar, but lesser known fight for educational equality was brewing in Westminster, California. Sylvia Mendez had been born in the United States to Mexican and Puerto Rican parents and spoke perfect English. She was new…
Review by Racha Kassir In 1944, a Mexican girl Sylvia Mendez, and her family moved to Westminster, California as her dad had leased a farm after years of fieldwork. Although they were U.S. citizens, the Mendez children weren’t allowed to register in a public school. Mr. Gonzalo Mendez challenged Orange County’s public-school segregation and with…
Review by Ali Larson It’s finally the big day… it’s Lola’s big sister’s quinceañera! This means everyone is preparing for the big celebration. Tias (aunts) are cooking, tios (uncles) are decorating, damas (ladies) are dressing Eva in her beautiful gown, primos (cousins) are keeping busy playing video games, and even the perro (dog) is busy!…
Children's Literature at UMN 