Grandpa Lee’s Stories: New Mexico to California
Helen Najera Reyes
With Grandpa Lee’s Stories, the author hopes to inspire every person—family historian— to write the stories of their families. Illustrations by Hector Garza.
Grandpa Lee’s Stories: New Mexico to California
November 16, 2020
Paperback, 100 pages
ISBN-13 : 978-1-7351210-0-0
“Grandpa Lee’s Stories: New Mexico to California by Helen Najera Reyes leaves one feeling good. She lovingly shares her family history via the life of her multitalented grandfather. This is also a bonding story. Najera Reyes became firmly bonded to her Grandpa Lee and he was firmly bonded to his family. This is a migration story, for Grandpa Lee takes his family from New Mexico to California and forms a life that allows Najera Reyes to relate the saga in a song she wrote and recorded. The lyrical nature in which she describes her grandmother is a tribute to the social flexibility required by women of husbands seeking a better life. Most telling is how some New Mexico traditions combined with those of California. Yes. This book leaves one feeling good.”
— Dr. Irene Blea
Professor Emeritus California State University—Los Angeles, Chairperson of Chicano Studies; sociologist; and Chicana feminist author of many articles, textbooks, poetry and novels
Praise for Grandpa Lee’s Stories by Helen Najera Reyes
“Reading Grandpa Lee’s Stories: New Mexico to California is like listening to a child’s account of their life in which they can only remember the best parts. What a JOY this was to read! Told through her own words and her mother’s memory, Helen Najera Reyes is clearly a gifted storyteller in her own right who regales us with stories that not only capture her family’s love for Grandpa Lee but also document histories of the Mexican American experience in both New Mexico and California. Accounts of housing discrimination and racial tensions are nested into the more prominent narratives of joy, generosity, and loving banter that make this book a memorable, soul-pleasing collection.”
— Larissa Mercado-Lopez
Associate professor in the Department of Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies, California State University, Fresno; editor of Voices of Resistance: Interdisciplinary Approaches to Chican@ Children's Literature; and Book Review Editor for Chicana/Latina Studies: The Journal of Mujeres Activas en Letras y Cambio Social
About the Author
Helen Najera Reyes
Helen Najera Reyes was born and raised in San José, California. She is a retired reading specialist and classroom teacher, with more than thirty years of experience. She wrote this book, with the hope of inspiring every person— family historian— to write the stories of their families. Najera Reyes wrote and recorded Ballad of Grandpa Lee in 1992, to document the shooting incident of 1931 told in the text. She has nearly reached her silver anniversary of marriage to Gabriel Allan Reyes, with whom she shares the love and care of their grandchildren. They volunteer their time in the cultural life of Morgan Hill, California, where they they raised their four daughters, and continue to reside.
About the Illustrator
Hector Garza
A flourishing independent artist, Hector Garza has been a dedicated educator for the last fifteen years in San Antonio, Texas. He has a BA in Art with a Minor in Music from Our Lady of the Lake University, an MA in Education from the University of Notre Dame, and an MFA in Painting from the Savannah College of Art and Design. Fall of 2019, Garza was accepted into the Institute for Doctoral Studies in Visual Art where he is completing his PhD. Garza is an Academic Success Coach at Our Lady of the Lake University and is a professor of or Sacred Art and Architecture at the Mexican American Catholic College.