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Calling the Doves / El Canto de Las Palomas

by Juan Felipe Herrera

Subject
Hispanic & Latino
Age
6-8 years
Format
Trade Paperback
Pages
32
Publisher
Childrens Book Press (CA)
Size
19.8 cm × 24.1 cm
ISBN
9780892391660

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.

About the creators

Juan Felipe HerreraAuthor

Juan Felipe Herrera is the son of farmworkers and a graduate of UCLA, Stanford, and the University of Iowa Writers' Workshop. For over fifty years, he has dedicated his life to poetry, community, art, and teaching. He served as the Poet Laureate of the United States and of California, and he's written more than thirty books across various genres. His awards include the National Book Critics' Circle Award, the Ezra Jack Keats Book Award, a Guggenheim Fellowship, the LA Times Robert Kirsch Award, a Latino Hall of Fame Award, a Pushcart Prize, UCLA Chancellor's Medal, and the UC-Riverside Lifetime Achievement Award. He was awarded the prestigious MacArthur Fellowship in 2024. He lives in Fresno, California, with his wife, poet Margarita Robles.

Elly SimmonsIllustrator

Elly Simmons is an internationally-exhibited painter. Her first picture book for Children's Book Press, Magic Dogs of the Volcanoes by Manlio Argueto, was highly praised for its rich colors and magnificent imagery. She lives with her family in Lagunitas, California.

Data provided by BiblioShare.

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What reviewers said

"The combination of a beautiful text and radiant paintings makes Calling the Doves an excellent bilingual picture book."
School Library Journal
"A welcome alternative to the usually bleak portrayal of the migrant farmworker experience, this is an inspirational self-portrait of a loving Latino family. A poetic picture-book memoir that will add beauty to any literature, Latino culture, or biography collection."
Booklist
Américas Award Commended Title - Consortium of Latin American Studies Programs
Ezra Jack Keats Writer Award Winner - Grummond Children's Literature Collection
© 2026 Peekabooks Inc. All Rights Reserved.
© 2026 Peekabooks Inc. All Rights Reserved.