From School Library Journal
PreSchool-Grade 5?An alphabet book with exceptional illustrations and excellent poetry that gives voice to the experience of Hispanic agricultural workers. Each letter is matched with a Spanish word (for example, "Arboles" for "A") and accompanied by a poem in both Spanish and English that describes how the plant, fruit, vegetable, person, or feeling functions in the lives of these workers. Zubizarreta's English translations are informed and graceful, but predictably cannot match the Spanish originals in rhythm, assonance, or meter. Silva's vibrant, double-page, gouache illustrations are reminiscent of the artwork of Diego Rivera and Jose Clemente Orozco. The colors are brilliant, and the scope has a certain larger-than-life sense to it. This is a book that begs to be read aloud to all students, whether they are Spanish speaking or not. The sound of the poems will draw them in. The touching elegy for Cesar Chavez successfully imparts the impact of a heroic man on his people. Whether used to show the plight of migrant workers or the pride Hispanic laborers feel in their heritage, this is an important book.?Ann Welton, Terminal Park Elementary School, Auburn, WACopyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
Ages 5-8. Using the Spanish alphabet as a template, Ada has written 27 poems that celebrate both the bounty of the harvest and the Mexican heritage of the farmworkers and their families. The poems, presented in both Spanish and English, are short and simple bursts of flavor: "Árboles/Trees," "Betabel/Beet," "César Chávez," etc. Silva's sun-drenched gouache paintings are robust, with images sculpted in paint. Brimming with respect and pride, the book, with its mythic vision of the migrant farm worker, will add much to any unit on farming or Mexican American heritage. Annie Ayres

The Horn Book
"These brief poems honor the lives of migrant farmwokers and celebrate an alphabetic list of spanish words."

Book Description
In simple words and sun-drenched paintings, Alma Flor Ada and Simón Silva take us into the fields and orchards, and into the lives of the people who work them. Simple poems in Spanish and English, one for each letter of the Spanish alphabet, describe the wonder of the vegetable and fruit farms. Together, the poems and the rich illustrations celebrate the glory of nature and the hearts of all who dedicate their lives to working the land.

Language Notes
Text: Spanish, English

Card catalog description
A book of poems about working in the fields and nature's bounty, one for each letter of the Spanish alphabet.

About the Author
In Her Own Words... "I was born in Cuba and spent my childhoodin a wonderful big old house in the outskirts of the city of Camaguey. If I went out by the front door, I was on the street. But if I went out by the back door, I was in the magical world of trees, cows, the horse, and the river, a world that always enchanted me. There were generous trees ready to share their fruits: sweet and sour cashews, fragrant guavas, delicious mangoes, tamarindo, nispero, caimito. There was the river full of life: turtles sunning on rocks, herons fishing for minnows, bullfrogs jumping into the water. On the other side of the river, an old man and his son made bricks and tiles out of the red clay, and I spent countless hours watching them."I was always trying to make sense of the world around me and continually asking questions: Why were so many people poor? What did ants do inside their anthills? But I also spent many hours lost in the world of books. Some of my favorite authors were the Russian writer Condesa de Segur (Sophie’s Adventures and The General Durakin), the Swiss writer Johanna Spyri (Heidi and Lorenzo and Margarita and Children of the Alps), the Italian Edmundo d’Amicis (Corazon), and the American Louisa May Alcott. Almost all the books I read as a child were translations from other languages, so it isn’t surprising that as I grew up I began to translate many books from English into Spanish."My grandmother was an exceptional storyteller who could make her stories so real thatI felt I was actually there. My father loved to tell stories, too. Every night he invented a new story to explain how fire was used for the first time or how someone thought of making shoes or how to build a house or to make a canoe."Writing is for me a great joy, a way to re-create some of the feelings I had as a child: the wonder, the joy, the excitement, the surprise. It’s also a way to say what I feel today. Above all, it’s a chance to make a little piece of the world—that contained within the pages of a book—just and kind, beautiful and diverse, welcoming to all."I feel I’m very fortunate to be able to do in life just what I love to do: write and teach. To see the books I have written in the hands of any child is one of the greatest joys I can think of.To see them in the little hands of my grand-children is a gift beyond belief."

ANNOTATION

A book of poems about working in the fields and nature's bounty, one for each letter of the Spanish alphabet.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

A book of poems about working in the fields and nature's bounty, one for each letter of the Spanish alphabet.

FROM THE CRITICS

Children's Literature - Tim Whitney

This book is more than a mere collection of alphabetized nature poems, but a celebration of the way of life of Mexican farmworkers. Each Spanish poem addresses an aspect of life; the main concept corresponding to a letter in the Spanish alphabet. The English translation is accurate and still maintains the flavor and rhythm of the original Spanish. Silva's illustrations in the form of paintings make this a beautiful picture book as well.

Children's Literature - Beverly Kobrin

Alma Flor Ada's bilingual Gathering the Sun is a stunning celebration of farm workers, their families, the land they sow and the harvests they reap, from "Arboles-Trees...that bear the fruits/that my parents harvest." to "Zanahoria-Carrot ...[that] knows/the sun's fiery color/by heart." Artist Simon Silva's powerful gouaches are in the rich reds and oranges of sun-drenched farmlands.

School Library Journal