Rating: 
Summary: Que Bueno!
Review: "Trabaja para mas valer, estudia para mas saber." Work to be worth more, study to know more. This book is a gem. It is structured so each chapter has a theme like responsabilidad, respecto, justicia. Famous latinos share a story and then the author links a set of appropriate dichos - commonly known in the english language as proverbs. This book is helpful for those of use who grew up hearing dichos from our abuelitos, but not understanding the historical context. Excellent choice!
Rating:
Summary: Que Bueno!
Review: "Trabaja para mas valer, estudia para mas saber." Work to be worth more, study to know more. This book is a gem. It is structured so each chapter has a theme like responsabilidad, respecto, justicia. Famous latinos share a story and then the author links a set of appropriate dichos - commonly known in the english language as proverbs. This book is helpful for those of use who grew up hearing dichos from our abuelitos, but not understanding the historical context. Excellent choice!
Rating:
Summary: Useful and inspiring
Review: I'm a college instructor (UCLA Extension, Loyola Marymount University Extension, The Art Institute of California - Los Angeles, and Brooks College).In some classes, 40% of my students are Hispanic. I read the stories in this book to them, and they find them very inspiring. Given the short attention span of students nowadays, the fact that Nava's stories are short and to the point makes them that much more impactful.
Rating:
Summary: Hispanic Bible
Review: Should be read by everyone in the Hispanic community. It'll open everyone's eyes to the issue of assimilation, that we as a community and part of this country are in big trouble not because we are not assimilating the Americano BUT BECAUSE WE ARE!!!!!!!!!!
Rating:
Summary: Hispanic Bible
Review: Should be read by everyone in the Hispanic community. It'll open everyone's eyes to the issue of assimilation, that we as a community and part of this country are in big trouble not because we are not assimilating the Americano BUT BECAUSE WE ARE!!!!!!!!!!
Rating:
Summary: A Must Have for Parents and Educators!!!
Review: This book is great! I have been reading the stories to my middle school class of ESL students. They love it. The lessons on Respect, Honor, and Values hit home. We have posted dichos all over our room. I especially like that this book shows Hispanic people who keep thier values and culture can be rich, famous, and respected. Wonderful!!
Rating:
Summary: A Must Have for Parents and Educators!!!
Review: This book is great! I have been reading the stories to my middle school class of ESL students. They love it. The lessons on Respect, Honor, and Values hit home. We have posted dichos all over our room. I especially like that this book shows Hispanic people who keep thier values and culture can be rich, famous, and respected. Wonderful!!
Rating: 
Summary: Not what I expected
Review: To be honest, I expected more folktales and traditional stories from Mexico, but that's not what this is. There are about 100 contributors, each giving a personal story relating to the subject of a particular chapter. There are very few who did this for more than one chapter. This is the main component of the book. This is why I found it a hard book to read cover to cover. Since each chapter is dedicated to a particular virtue, and has a combination of "dichos," and personal stories, all of which are very short - no more than one to two pages long. While one of the reviewers found this to be a good thing, I found it distracting. Another problem is that the "dichos" are often translations of English/American sayings. While there are some sayings that seem to be universal - touch wood, for instance - I find it hard to believe that so many are.
What I was looking for was something to help me remember some of the "dichos" or stories that my mother and abuelita used, now that I have a son. I was hoping to keep some of the same sabor in our house that I grew up with. While I find this book a good additional to my library, it's not quite what I expected or hoped for and it's not better than what I expected.
Rating: 
Summary: Belongs in every high school library
Review: Yolanda Nava's IT'S ALL IN THE FRIJOLES has a conservative and religious bias that I don't particularly care for, though I support the general intent of the book. The book is divided into 14 chapters, each chapter focusing on a desirable quality such as responsibility, honesty, and support for justice. Nava introduces each chapter with quotes and bilingual sayings, her thoughts on the topic, then fills the rest of the chapter with mostly the recollections and poetry of well-known Latinos, ending the chapter with more "dichos" (sayings). At the back of the book, there is a "For Further Reading" section where seemingly every other title has the word "virtues," "moral," or "values" in it. Under "Contributors' Biographies," there are 93 concise biographies, averaging three sentences in length. A notable shortcoming of the book is the 2:1 ratio of men's voices to women's. None of the women in LAS MUJERES: MEXICAN AMERICAN/CHICANA WOMEN, published by the National Women's History Project in Windsor, Calif., are in Nava's book; that book includes union organizer Dolores Huerta, civil rights attorney Vilma Martinez, and muralist Judith F. Baca. Value categories such as "temperance" and "chastity" would have been better served under a more appropriate term like "self-discipline." Also, the layout of the book is crowded, sometimes resulting in a confusing separation of Nava's introductory notes from the passage they're commenting on. Still, even with these shortcomings, IT'S ALL IN THE FRIJOLES is worth reading and passing on. The book provides insight into what makes some individuals special.
Rating:
Summary: You don't have to be Hispanic
Review: You don't have to be Hispanic to love this book. On these pages you will find insight and inspiration for everyone. It gives an Anglo like me an indepth view of a community filled with wisdom and bursting with great stories. I highly recommend it.
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