It has given me unsurpassable joy to sign this book for golden anniversaries of grandparents and for birthday gifts, for quinceañeras, newborn babies and babies yet to be born, realizing that in each case the book is a symbol of the strength, the resilience, the determination, the dignity and the profound love of family of those who work in the fields and whose labor allows us all to live. Simón Silva, who knew intimately the life in the fields during his childhood and has drawn from the heritage of the great Mexican muralists provided strong and magnificent illustrations that have made this book the true homage to the farm workers lives and struggles that I dreamt to create. The poems of Gathering the Sun were born out of these enriching experiences. I have described my work with farm working parents, and the learning I derived from it, in my memoirs, Vivir en dos idiomas. I have described the academic results of sharing high quality children's books with Migrant parents and inviting them to create books with their children in Pájaro Valley, California in the book A Magical Encounter: Use of Latino Literature in the Classroom. Some of the most heartening experiences of my life have been my work with Migrant Farm Working families.
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