Lola Out Loud: Inspired by the Childhood of Activist Dolores Huerta

A child channels her fierce sense of fairness into action in this dynamic imagining of the youth of Dolores Huerta (b. 1930). Greeting guests to their family hotel with “welcome-home warmth and a gleaming brass key,” Lola and her mother “kept their hearts open... sleeves rolled up... hands ready to help.” Yet Lola’s imagination and talkativeness interrupt her chores, and her mother chides: “When you see a problem, fix it.” Lola’s grandfather, meanwhile, nicknames her “Lolita Siete Lenguas... Little Lola, Seven Tongues, all fighting to be heard,” and when she perceives two people being treated unjustly, she sets out to fix the problem and uncovers her life’s path, years later speaking out for farmworkers. Torres’s rhythmic descriptions center physical action, and hyphenated triadic adjectives pulse musically throughout. Palacios’s warm-toned gouache and acrylic illustrations center earthy hues and scratchy textures. End notes contextualize the life of Huerta. Ages 4–8. (Aug.)