Journey for Peace: The Story of Rigoberta Menchu (Rainbow Biography) [Hardcover]

Marlene Targ Brill (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 9 and up | Series: Rainbow Biography

Provides a look into the life of the Latin American woman and winner of the 1992 Nobel Peace Prize, who spread her message throughout Guatemala in the search for human rights for her people, the Maya, against the cruel and unlawful treatment they endured from powerful landowners.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 4-7?Brill's book scores high marks for gender and racial equity, peace studies, and class reports. In addition, its brevity and the author's skillful expository writing will please reluctant readers. Rigoberta Menchu, born in a Guatemalan village, embraced her father's political activism from an early age. After his violent death, she became a leader in organizing the Mayan people in their struggle against an oppressive government, and in 1992 she received the Nobel Peace Prize. The author draws upon her subject's autobiography, information from UN publications, and interviews with people active in the international peace movement. Little is said about the political situation in Guatemala. The native peoples' harsh life is background to Menchu's amazing rise from obscurity to becoming the voice of protest for her people. It's an exciting story, well told.?Shirley Wilton, Ocean County College, Toms River, NJ
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Gr. 3^-5. The winner of the 1992 Nobel Peace Prize, Rigoberta Menchuis a poor, uneducated Mayan woman who has helped her native people fight oppression in Guatemala and who has told the world about their suffering. Part of the Rainbow Biography series, the account is quiet, but it tells of violence and poverty and amazing courage. Beginning with Menchu's childhood as a field laborer, her personal story is woven together with that of her Indian people and their harsh dislocation at the hands of the landowners and the brutal army. Her father was imprisoned, tortured, and finally murdered for his leadership role in the resistance; so were her mother and her brothers and sisters. Yet, like her father, she has led her people in nonviolent resistance and has given them a voice. There are end notes for direct quotes, a glossary, a map, and a bibliography of books about Guatemala, with black-and-white photos and illustrations throughout. Hazel Rochman

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 9 and up
  
• Hardcover: 64 pages
• Publisher: Dutton Juvenile; 1st edition (August 1, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0525675248
• ISBN-13: 978-0525675242
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.8 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,504,561 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Now I understand the backlash, May 27, 1999

By 

[e-mail] (Pennsylvania) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Journey for Peace: The Story of Rigoberta Menchu (Rainbow Biography) (Hardcover)

After reading I Rigoberta, Crossing Borders, and Stoll's account detailing the inconsistencies (lies??) of Rigoberta's life story, I wondered why it was so important to Stoll to undermine her credibility; after all, it seemed in doing so, he might hurt the Mayan people further... Even if she HAD made her account a composite of all poor Mayan women, these things did really happen. The Mayans needed her voice; they were most certainly oppressed. What has opened my eyes to Stoll's motives for discrediting her, however, is the near sainthood conferred upon her by the Left... ...the ease with which the Left, even when they knew her account to be false, continued to perpetuate the lie, even to our children. NO ONE has the right to rewrite history falsely. We DO need to be honest and not let the ends justify the means. We need to admit the truth regarding Rigoberta, get past it, and likewise admit the value of her existence in helping to open the eyes of the world the the Mayan plight. The TRUTH about Rigoberta, really about her PEOPLE, is compelling enough. Honesty will only accentuate it.