In lyrical bilingual prose (Spanish/English) Chicano poet Juan Felipe Herrera recalls his childhood growing up in a family of migrant farmworkers. "The road changed with the seasons," he observes but some things stayed the same: his mother's love of poetry and music and his father's ability to whistle a tune that would attract doves. Color pencil and acrylic paintings express the warmth and security felt by a child growing up in a loving household. (Ages 4-8)

Bilingual English/Spanish. Calling the Doves is Poet Laureate Juan Felipe Herrera's story of his migrant farmworker childhood.

Calling the Doves is poet Juan Felipe Herrera's story of his migrant farmworker childhood. In delightful and lyrical language, he recreates the joy of eating breakfast under the open sky, listening to Mexican songs in the little trailer house his father built, and celebrating with other families at a fiesta in the mountains. He remembers his mother's songs and poetry, and his father's stories and his calling the doves. For Juan Felipe, the farmworker road was also the beginning of his personal road to becoming a writer.