Review by Booklist Review
Chicana poet Águila employs lyrical language to depict a thinly fictionalized account of the April 1970 protest by San Diego's Barrio Logan residents, who successfully convinced the city to build a long-promised park instead of a police station in their neighborhood. Young Elena narrates the details of this peaceful 12-day land occupation that resulted in Chicano Park, now an eight-acre green space filled with murals, sculptures, and statues, located under the Coronado Bridge. Liberal use of Spanish vocabulary adds to the book's authenticity, and while most words will be clear in context, a glossary would have been helpful for those unfamiliar with these terms. Mora's digitally enhanced pencil, charcoal, and watercolor illustrations feature purples, greens, browns, and blues accented in pinks and yellow. Most spreads contain full-bleed art, but several include additional superimposed inset illustrations. Aztec and Mayan cultural symbols appear throughout, reflecting the actual artwork in the park. Appended with a more detailed history of this event and additional resources, this is a welcome addition to Chicane resistance and resilience literature.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
In this activist picture book, a child living in San Diego's Barrio Logan vividly narrates, in English and Spanish, a story of individual and collective strength. In their Chicane neighborhood, which now sits adjacent to a freeway and a junkyard, Elena and Mami encounter jacaranda blossoms, close-knit neighbors, and a tiendita, as well as vehicle fumes and noise. Elena is excited to see construction, believing it's the start of a long-requested park, but the community soon learns that the workers are breaking ground on a planned police station. Defying "men in hard hats, and police with squawking radios," the residents join hands and surround the equipment, and the bravery of a protesting neighbor inspires everyone to stand their ground--until their efforts, step by step, result in community-built Chicano Park. In a powerful work that celebrates community engagement at any age, Mora's pencil, charcoal, watercolor, and digital illustrations contrast hard-edged concrete and metal with cloudlike jacaranda blossoms and vivid hand-rendered murals. Background characters are portrayed with various skin tones. A history of the park and an author's note conclude. Ages 4--8. (June)
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Review by School Library Journal Review
Gr 1--3--Birdsong mixed with strumming strings open Chicana poet/author Águila's debut picture book, enhanced by a complementary soundtrack of traffic, protests, music. Bilingual Villareal, more than ever the Latina voice-of-choice, is a lyrical, tenacious cipher for young Elena who, with her mother and their Barrio Logan neighborhood, fights San Diego officials for the park they were promised. As Elena and Mami walk to the local tiendita, the ruckus of trucks, cars, junkyard dogs interrupt their greetings to friends. Elena thinks the bulldozers in motion finally signal park construction, but the city instead announces a new police station. The people adamantly refuse: "¡Viva la raza!" "¡Sí, se puede!" Águila adds the protest's real-life history at story's end, with additional resources and her own relationship with Chicano Park. Spanish print and audio versions are also available. VERDICT Author and narrator provide a motivating vision of what a united community can and will achieve.
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Review by Horn Book Review
"Parque si, policia no!" This fictionalized account -- narrated by a young person -- shares the dramatic culmination of efforts by Chicane residents of Barrio Logan to build Chicano Park in San Diego in 1970. When the city began building a police station in the space where the community had long called for a park, residents launched a protest to physically block the construction. Aguila weaves together images of daily life in Barrio Logan with community members' experiences of the city's lengthy neglect and environmental racism against their community, to tell the story of the fight to build the park, which was ultimately successful. Spanish vocabulary and slogans used by Chicane and other Latine activists are interspersed throughout the text and illustrations. Mora employs a blend of vivid colors, sepia tones, and pastel hues to highlight the intensity of the struggle and the everyday beauty for which the protesters were fighting, ending with depictions of the inspiring murals that residents eventually painted in the park. Although the story seems condensed, an author's note explains the rapid succession of this phase of the protest and provides more details about the ongoing discrimination suffered by the community. Concurrently published in Spanish as El barrio se levanta. Monica de los ReyesMarch/April 2024 p.54 (c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
A blossoming young activist joins her neighbors in the fight to build Chicano Park in Águila and Mora's celebratory tribute to San Diego's Chicane community. On her way to the tiendita with her Mami, Elena walks through the streets of Barrio Logan, her home neighborhood by the bay. The impacts of industrialization on Barrio Logan are evident throughout their journey: pollution from a diesel truck, the colossal frame of the Coronado Bridge, and the "roar of cars racing on the freeways." Under the bridge, bulldozers sit, a promise of a park within reach. But soon, news of the city's intent to build a police station instead of a park in the Chicane neighborhood spurs Elena and her community to action. Charged with soft purples, vivid greens, and bold reds, Mora's lush digitally colored charcoal and watercolor artwork dreamily elevates this tale of social achievement, depicting pivotal scenes like a series of interconnected murals. Águila's sharp, evocative text touches upon crucial moments: the community's peaceful takeover of the disputed site, clashes with the police and city officials, and the arrival of allies in neighboring communities and across the state. A brief appended historical overview of Chicano Park provides much-needed context on Barrio Logan, celebrates key figures of the movement, and draws a line from those 12 days of protest in 1970 to the park's current status as a cultural hub. A marvelous testament to barrio-based might. (further resources, author's note, photo) (Picture book. 4-8) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
