Jazz Age Josephine

Little Melba and Her Big Trombone

Playing at the Border: A Story of Yo-Yo Ma

Sugar Plum Ballerinas: Plum Fantastic

Miles to Go

Waiting for Normal

Sing, Don't Cry

Take-Off: American All-Girl Bands During World War II

Badger Biographies

Raised among Mexican American farmworkers, singer-songwriter Cris Plata spoke Spanish, ate Mexican food, and heard Mexican music played by family and friends. He also spoke English, went to school with mostly white children for at least half the year, and grew more familiar with mainstream American culture. Until he was seven, he and his family lived and worked on a ranch near Poteet, Texas. The family became migrant farmworkers, moving from Indiana to Arkansas and Florida before finally settling in Wisconsin in 1966 to work at an Astico farm.   This dual language book shares the Plata's family story of migrant farming, music, and family amid the constant change and uncertainty of migrant life. While hardships-from poor working conditions and low wages to racial prejudice-were constant in Cris Plata's upbringing, so too was the music that bonded and uplifted his family. After long days in the fields, Cris's family spent their small amount of free time playing and singing songs from Mexico and South Texas. Cris learned to play the guitar, accordion, and mandolin, beginning to strum when he was just five years old. Today, he writes his own music, performs songs in English and Spanish, and records albums with his band, Cris Plata with Extra Hot.   Following Cris Plata's journey from farm fields to musical stages, the story explores how a migrant, and the son of an immigrant, decided to make Wisconsin his home.

Perseverance

Diversity

Family And Relationships

Cris Plata: From Fields to Stage // Del Campo al Escenario (Badger Biographies Series)

Discover Your Child's Next Read

Jazz Age Josephine

Marjorie Priceman, Jonah Winter, 2012

Little Melba and Her Big Trombone

Katheryn Russell-Brown, Frank Morrison, 2014

Playing at the Border: A Story of Yo-Yo Ma

Joanna Ho, Teresa Martínez, 2021

Sugar Plum Ballerinas: Plum Fantastic

Whoopi Goldberg, 2011

Miles to Go

Miley Cyrus, 2009

Waiting for Normal

Leslie Connor, 2008

Sing, Don't Cry

Angela Dominguez, 2017

Take-Off: American All-Girl Bands During World War II

Tonya Bolden, 2007