Isabel Valle's story is a window into world that few Americans understand, even though migrant workers--large numbers of whom are U.S. citizens--are virtually our neighbors. As a reporter on special assignment for the Walla Walla Union-Bulletin , Valle lived and traveled with a migrant family for an entire year. Her widely acclaimed reports appeared every Sunday in the “Fields of Toil: A Migrant Family's Journey” series. Washington State University Press, in collaboration with the Walla Walla Union-Bulletin , has now compiled these award-winning reports into a dramatic book. Valle shared domestic and other responsibilities with the Raul and Maria Elena Martinez family during their annual cycle of living and working in the Inland Pacific Northwest and South Texas. Valle investigates many topics, including the difficulties of asparagus cutting, drug smuggling and illegal aliens, children working in the fields, Hispanic customs, and the problems of cultural acceptance and language barriers. Through Valle's invaluable insights, Fields of Toil helps readers to replace stereotypes and misconceptions with greater understanding and acceptance of the migrant's life. In 1992, the Associate Press Managing Editors Association selected this series as one of the ten best in the nation published by a newspaper with a circulation of less than 50,000. Valle, a journalist on assignment for the Walla Walla Union-Bulletin, lived, worked, and traveled with a Hispanic migrant farm family in the Northwest for one year. This book is a compilation of her columns on the lives of Raul and Elena Martinez and their 13 children as they traveled from their winter home in La Grulla, Texas, to the fruit and vegetable farms in Oregon and Washington during growing and harvest seasons. Valle portrays a working-class family that believes in the work ethic and family values but must cope with the frustrations and helplessness of migrant life. She describes the hardships of constant travel, low pay, child labor, poor housing, lack of adequate healthcare and of educational opportunities for the children, and cultural and language barriers that the Martinezes face daily. The assistance and caring provided by government and private agencies in Oregon and Washington helped to ease the burden. Readers will be impressed by the determination and endurance of the Martinez family, who have spent their lives in the field. Recommended for both lay readers and scholars. Irwin Weintraub, Rugters Univ. Libs., Piscataway, N.J. Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. The Walla Walla Union-Bulletin , with a circulation of not much more than 15,000, did an extraordinary thing: they hired bilingual Isabel Valle to live a year with and write about one Texas migrant family, that of Raul and Maria Elena Martinez. The Martinez family represents a typical pattern: they own a home in Texas but spend much of the year on the road, and one of their principal destinations is Walla Walla. Valle is an ordinary stylist, but she effectively shows what migrants face in terms of housing, education, health care, and wages, demonstrating that conditions have improved little over the years. Farm safety has improved, she shows, but housing and medical care are always worsening and improving at the same time. Valle doesn't blame growers or governments; only when consumers are willing to pay more for their food can conditions improve, she says. As for the Martinez family, Valle gets to know them almost too well--raised in a middle-class environment, she is distressed by having to sleep on the floor and share the bathroom; she finds the adult Martinezes to be noble but infuriating, too. Their children become her brothers and sisters. The authenticity of the Martinez family is unmistakable, and Valle's unsentimental, nonideological approach is refreshing. John Mort “The authenticity of the Martinez family is unmistakable, and Valle’s unsentimental, non-ideological approach is refreshing.” -- Booklist , starred review “Readers will be impressed by the determination and endurance of the Martinez family, who have spent their lives in the field. Recommended for both lay readers and scholars.” -- Library Journal Isabel Valle, as a reporter on special assignment with the Walla Walla Union Tribune , lived, worked and moved with a migrant family for an entire year. Used Book in Good Condition