Reading Grandpa Lee’s Stories: New Mexico to California is like listening to a child’s account of their life in which they can only remember the best parts. What a JOY this was to read! Told through her own words and her mother’s memory, Helen Najera Reyes is clearly a gifted storyteller in her own right who regales us with stories that not only capture her family’s love for Grandpa Lee but also document histories of the Mexican American experience in both New Mexico and California. Accounts of housing discrimination and racial tensions are nested into the more prominent narratives of joy, generosity, and loving banter that make this book a memorable, soul-pleasing collection.
Associate professor in the Department of Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies, California State University, Fresno; editor of Voices of Resistance: Interdisciplinary Approaches to Chican@ Children’s Literature; and Book Review Editor for Chicana/Latina Studies: The Journal of Mujeres Activas en Letras y Cambio Social
Grandpa Lee’s Stories: New Mexico to California by Helen Najera Reyes leaves one feeling good. She lovingly shares her family history via the life of her multitalented grandfather. This is also a bonding story. Najera Reyes became firmly bonded to her Grandpa Lee and he was firmly bonded to his family. This is a migration story, for Grandpa Lee takes his family from New Mexico to California and forms a life that allows Najera Reyes to relate the saga in a song she wrote and recorded. The lyrical nature in which she describes her grandmother is a tribute to the social flexibility required by women of husbands seeking a better life. Most telling is how some New Mexico traditions combined with those of California. Yes. This book leaves one feeling good.
Professor Emeritus California State University-Los Angeles, Chairperson of Chicano Studies; sociologist; and Chicana feminist author of many articles, textbooks, poetry and novels
