Customer Reviews

Barefoot Heart: Stories of a Migrant Child

5 star:		(40)
4 star:		(25)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

My husband and I grew up in a small South Texas town (1960's)
where many families were migrants. I never had to go off and work the fields but my husband and his family did. When I came across this book my husband and I were going to take a trip to Cali. to visit our daughter(Navy-29 palms in 2001) I decided to read the book to him while he drove. I read all the way to CALI!
We couldn't wait to hear what Elva had to say next.I would stop reading only to refuel and eat. The story made us laugh and cry
:) I never had an idea on what it was like to be a migrant child.I not only sympathized for my husband and his family but for all the kids I grew up with that would show up at school in October. Kudos to Mrs Hart for sharing her story!
I am buying a few books this Christmas to share with my Migrant friends! This is a must read book.(I've re-read it since then)

It's a great success story, from the hardships and hard, hard work of a migrant family to IBM honcho. But the greatest success is in turning back to her childhood and telling us of it with such honesty and love. And there is a particular quality in the telling that I think is hers alone and will be in anything else she writes: besides the love and warmth, what I can only describe as a magic aura, a special world in which the hurry and grasping of everyday life does not enter, where even the hardships turn beautiful because they are accepted so fully. On the last page of the book she addresses her father and mother and five brothers and sisters, "Sharing your lives has been a sacred privilege. I thank God that my life has been exactly as it was and that I shared it with you."

I ALWAYS THOUGHT HOW UNLUCKY I WAS TO GROW UP WITH A FAMILY THAT HAD TO MOVE AROUND EVERY SEASON TO PICK FRUIT. TODAY I REALIZE HOW LUCKY I HAVE BEEN TO HAVE LIVED THROUGH THAT. I SEE MYSELF AND MY FAMILY IN THIS BOOK AND I REALLY CONNECTED WITH ELVA AND HER FAMILY. ITS A GREAT BOOK AND I HAVE PURCHASED SEVERAL TO GIVE AS GIFTS AND EVERYONE HAS RAVED. I RECOMMEND IT TO EVERYONE.

I was born in a small town in the Rio Grande valley of Texas in the mid-50's. My family followed the migrant circuit before making California our permanemt home. I have always tried to keep the memories of my childhood alive in order to share them with my son. When I came across Barefoot Heart: Stories of a Migrant Child, I was immediately filled with pride. Elva Trevino Hart, through her beautiful book, has captured and told my story as well. Upon reading it, I called my mom and older sister and told them about this book. How it made me laugh and cry. We talked for hours about our own experiences. I will treasure this book and share it with my family and use it to inspire me to continue writing my own story that I can someday leave with my son.

Great Reading. I couldn't put the book down. While reading the book I felt like part of the family. This book takes us ex-migrant kids back to the bitter-sweet world we lived once upon a time. A great tool for teaching my kids what we as mexican migrant workers had to endure and for some families still have to for a better way of life. How education and the right decisions in life really do make a difference. Bravo Elva! for shining light on a migrant workers child's life, a world many would prefer to keep in the dark.

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.

I loved this book she also spoke at my she she is a very good speaker this book shows how migrants kinds grew up and how the migrant kids still do i would reccoman this book to everyone