Soldier for Equality: José de la Luz Sáenz and the Great War

This Pura Belpré Award winner centers around Luz, a Mexican American with dreams of equality and justice for his people. Luz is a teacher and believes knowledge is a weapon, but when World War I begins, he becomes a soldier in hopes of fighting discrimination against Mexicans and segregation. He reasons that by becoming a soldier, he can prove Mexican Americans' worth and dedication to the USA, and show that Mexicans should be valued and treated fairly. In the army, Luz works as an intelligence officer, translating important messages from French to English (using his Spanish language knowledge). This book features translanguaging and highlights how many people of Mexican descent view themselves as American, but were (and are) not treated as Americans. Even though this book does not feature a civil war, it does explore themes of tension within one side despite fighting a foreign opponent, as well as themes of why people fight in wars.

Possible Engagements

• The book opens with a slur against Mexican-Americans, and it is repeated throughout the book. This could be a great teachable moment to educate children about slurs relating to many different groups of people, and their impact.

• Luz uses his knowledge of Spanish in order to translate documents in French. A really cool activity could be to provide kids with text in French and see if they can understand some of it due to their Spanish knowledge. The connection between Latin languages could also be explored.

• This text could be paired with another Duncan Tonatiuh book, "Separate is Never Equal" about Sylvia Mendez and the fight for desegregation. Students could look for similarities and differences between the two protagonists.

• The themes of segregation, discrimination, and injustice could also be connected to African American experiences in the United States. Something to expand upon could be the sign "No Dogs or Mexicans", because there is a theme of treating people like animals across texts (or animals being treated better than people).

• Essential questions could be discussed and connected to other texts in the set, such as:

  • "Why do people fight in wars?"

  • "What are differences and similarities between wars and civil wars?"

  • "What does it mean to be American?"

Advantages & Shortcomings