Jovita Wore Pants

January 23, 2023
The defiant courage of Mexican freedom fighter Jovita Valdovinos (1911–1996), Salazar’s distant great-aunt, drives this expressive tribute, which begins with a child who prefers trousers to skirts. When Valdovinos’s Papá joins the Cristeros—“the revolutionaries fighting for their rights against the Federation”—she longs to accompany him. The fighting soon comes to her, with saturated pink and red scenes depicting her home’s destruction and candid prose describing her later assault by government soldiers (“No matter how they hurt her, she stayed strong as the mountain”). After her brothers and father are killed, Valdovinos dons overalls, renames herself Juan, and reignites the revolution, leading a peasant army for six years until a truce is reached. Painterly brushwork in Mendoza’s ink and digital illustrations emphasizes boldness and movement with strong colors that swirl and blend together, accompanying poetic text. Back matter offers historical context behind the lengthy story, and photographs of its subject. Ages 6–9.