Barefoot Heart: Stories of a Migrant Child [Paperback]

Elva Trevino Hart (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 1999

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.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Hart's expressive and remarkably affecting memoir concerns her childhood as the daughter of Mexican immigrants who worked as migrant workers to feed their six children. In 1953, when she was only three, her parents took the family from Texas to work in the fields of Minnesota and Wisconsin for the first time, only to find that in order to comply with the child labor law they had to leave the author and her 11-year-old sister to board in a local Catholic school, where they pined for the rest of the family. Hart remembers other years when the entire family participated in the backbreaking field labor, driven mercilessly by Apa (her father), who was determined to earn enough money to allow all his children to graduate from high school. Apa not only achieved his goal but was able to save $2000 so that Hart could enter college, a step that led to her earning a master's degree in computer science. This account is not, however, an ordinary memoir of triumph over adversity. Instead, Hart eloquently reveals the harsh toll that poverty and discrimination took on her familyAin sharply etched portraits of Ama, Hart's worn-out mother who clearly loved her daughter but was too exhausted to show it; of her brother Rudy, who refused to sit at the back of the bus because he was a Mexican; and of her teenage sisters, who struggled to keep their dignity in the muddy fields. She recalls many painful incidents in school and with childhood friends that stemmed from being Mexican in a small white Texas town. At 17, she drove her father back to Mexico to visit his family; she recalls how he suddenly changed into a happy man who felt at home with his land, his language and his people. This is a beautifully written debut from a writer to watch. (June)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

A powerful collection of vignettes by a successful career woman who looks back on her childhood and her Mexican-American family's impoverished years with stark dignity. (Nov.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Paperback: 236 pages
• Publisher: Bilingual Review Pr (April 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0927534819
• ISBN-13: 978-0927534819
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (73 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #88,924 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

35 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars educator review, February 17, 2000

By 

Dr. Manuel Trevino - See all my reviews

This review is from: Barefoot Heart: Stories of a Migrant Child (Paperback)

I fell in love with this book for a number of reasons. First, I was reading from an educators perspective and felt there was much to learn and teach from Elva's experience. Secondly, I was reading about myself and my family. The migrant streams of the mid-century seperated many families and not until recently have they begun to reconnect. I met Elva 35-40 years ago as a little boy on one of two trips my father ever took back to Texas. My father Roberto Sada Trevino (authors first cousin) followed the migrant stream to Northern Colorado and like many before and after him never returned to their roots. Not until recently have some of these families begun to seek each other out. The book offers a pathway for discovery. Along with reading about her joys and struggles, I recall the stories my father told us about his experience. In our traditional cultural upbringing a first cousin of ones' parents is considered an Aunt or Uncle, lately that has shifted to be recognized as second cousin, but anyway you look at it, My Tia/Prima has opened up her Heart for the rest of the world to examine. For me the Trevino clan just got a little bit bigger. Can't wait for the next material.

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Absorbing memoir, January 14, 2000

By 

[e-mail] - See all my reviews

This review is from: Barefoot Heart: Stories of a Migrant Child (Paperback)

Reading Elva Trevino Hart's memoir of her childhood in a Mexican-American migrant family was a fascinating experience. I know very little about Mexican culture and next to nothing about migrant workers, but Ms. Hart described the events of her life with such vivid detail that I felt as though I were right there with her family. I look forward to reading more from this wonderful author.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Meeting My Father, August 25, 2000

By 

Deborah Medina "Che's mom" (Chicago, Illinois) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Barefoot Heart: Stories of a Migrant Child (Paperback)

I cried and laughed when I read this book. My father was a migrant farm worker who didn't learn English until he was 13 years old.My father spoke of his memories with love and shame. I loved to hear the stories and be with my father. Because of the discrimination he faced and my own experiences, I had my own identity crisis growing up being Mexican. Through my own experiences and solid determination, I have learned to accept myself, love myself and be proud to be who I am. Elva Trevino has captured something that can't be explained. I thirst to learn more and to embrace my life and my father's life. Although I don't have the relationship with my father I have always longed for, I, like Elva, realize my father loves me in his own way. I'm sending him this book with love and hope. The door is always open.