Rose Castillo Guilbault
2005

Reviewed by: Jessi Hafer

In Farmerworker’s Daughter: Growing Up Mexican in America, author Rose Castillo Guilbault tells her story of moving from Mexico to California’s Salinas Valley, where she grew up during the 1960s. Rose’s mother divorced Rose’s biological father, who was discovered to be raising another family in another city. Although the extended family disapproved, Rose and her mother moved from Mexico to Kings City, California. They lived with a distant cousin until Rose’s mother married a farmworker.

As Rose goes through elementary school, the cultural gap is more difficult to transverse than the language gap (though the language gap is difficult for her mother). After finding it funny that all the girls at recess have identical Barbie dolls, Rose is laughed at for having a different doll. The cupcakes her mother tries to make and send to school don’t turn out very well (her mother had wanted to make empanadas, but the teacher said the students wouldn’t like them).

Rose talks about her first summer working in the fields at age eleven and her family’s visits to Mexico during the holidays and when family members are ill, visits that take precedence over saving money for a house. She also shares how television programs and Sears catalogues provide approachable windows into sought-after American identity.

Rose’s story is intertwined with the stories of others. One of her elementary school teachers, Mrs. Rojas, is the only Mexican American teacher at Rose’s school: “What Mrs. Rojas gave me… the seeds of self-worth, acceptance, and pride in who I was… planted so subtly that I didn’t even realize they were growing until many years later, when I found them rooted inside me.” In high school, Rose is also influenced by the only female reporter at the local newspaper, a lady who mentors Rose and helps her secure an internship. Rose’s story is also the story of her parents and others she meets on the farms.

Rose’s high school years show that her story is not just about her family background, but also about the time. Her former were classmates dying in Vietnam. Her friendships are forged around interests in the Beatles and other bands. That said, though the decades of the story are an important part of the setting, I suspect that many elements of Rose’s story apply to California in the present as well.

When I first finished reading Farmworker’s Daughter, for a moment I was disappointed that she didn’t reach some grandiose conclusions about what her situation meant. But then I realized that I found it refreshing, that her story didn’t need to force itself into some self-exalting framework in order for it to have relevance. Rose captures disappointments without delving into self-pity, and she shares happy moments as well. Dare I use the word “objective?” I’d rather say that the result is a story that feels sincere and honest. Time flies during this enjoyable and revealing read.