USE YOUR PALABRAS, JOVITA!

Louis tells the story of Mexican American activist and journalist Jovita Idar using a mix of Spanish and English in this picture book.

Jovita’s father always told his daughter to use her palabras—her words—and when Jovita grows up, she doesn’t let him down; she writes and speaks about the injustices she sees in her community. As a teacher, she writes about the importance of bilingual and bicultural education. When she becomes a journalist, she uses her words to reach the ears of even the president, Woodrow Wilson. When Texas Rangers threaten the press because their “words got too fuerte, sharp. Like a hacha!” Jovita stands her ground. Louis captures the bravery and spirit of this pathfinding historical figure, emphasizing the power of words to bring about change. The text uses short, accessible sentences, couching Spanish words in English phrases in ways that makes them easy for English-only speakers to decode. (A helpful glossary is also given at the back of the book.) Triana’s painterly illustrations depict the beauty of the Texas landscape, as well as the threat the Rangers pose to the strong, straight-spined Jovita. Black birds, who mirror Idar’s pen name, Ava Negra, make symbolic appearances, and several minority groups who struggled for equal rights in the early 1900s are depicted as being members of Jovita’s community.

An accessible and beautifully drawn biography of a formidable woman.