Burro Genius: A Memoir

Villasenor will draw you into his honest writing style, and with many of his books, give you a history lesson as well !

Es un libro muy bueno

If you took a bunch of ingredients and put them in a mixer just long enough to break them up, when you poured them out the jumble that results would be as hard to recognize as the plot for Burro Genius.That's not to say the results aren't tasty. Victor Villasenor has written an unusual book. Finding a narrative structure with an interesting enough plot to tie together one's life story is always challenging. Victor solves this by jumping back and forth through time, in and out of magic realism, and injecting his secret sauce into his recipe for life.There are times the book hurls bricks at the school systems--private and public-- of the 1950s. As a young child Victor experiences racism first hand with all its illogical stupidity. One of the counterbalances to the destructiveness of this anti-hispanic hatred is the rich oral teachings of Victor's indigenous grandmother. She left him with another world view that helped him survive.Another counterbalance was being rich, literally. This provides a big dose of cognitive dissidence to white racists.It's an interesting and challenging book. Young Victor's problem with pee has turned off many a reader. Not sure why this particular fact was so pervasive in the story. Try to get past it.

I had a hard time getting into Burro Genius at the beginning. But once I got past reading about the man as an adult and got into reading about Victor as a child I could not put it down. Victor is probably one of the most influential and relatable authors for Mexican-Americans everywhere. His father reminded me of my father, with all of his words of wisdom and his way of telling life lessons. These characters are in my heart like real people. I find myself thinking about Chavaboy, Lupe and even the "help". It has also broadened my understanding on how important it is to have good rolemodels amd teachers in life. I have taken some of the advice and lessons and have applied them to my own life.

Thank you for a great book. I can identify myself with this book as an immigrant and as a teacher. I agreed with your grandmother that every child is unique and with you that we all deserve a chance because we all try our best to learn a new language and it’s a huge challenge.Felicidades por su éxito de corazón!

Absolute genius! V.V. is our modern day Steinbeck, earthy exciting storyteller. I’d give it 10 stars if i could. If you like a great life story with a moral cleverly woven in that melts your heart & motivates you to do good… read this.

This book is just so different from anything you have ever read I promised. You want to start reading more buy this book to start you won’t regret it!

I was born in America, like Victor. I am not Hispanic. I relate to this book because my ancestors were from Italy. They came to America with very little, and with no knowledge of English. They built businesses, some of which flourish to this very day! They worked hard - often much harder than the people for whom they worked. They educated their children, often with very little help from the American school system. They survived drought, hunger, abuse, unfeeling teachers, uncaring political leaders. This is about Victor. And it is about all the people who built America. It is about you, me, our friends and relatives, our neighbors. Please read this. And please read WALKING STARS with your children. You are, after all -- each and every one of you -- a Burro Genius Miracle Maker!

Great book -0 I wish more of his work was available on Kindle

I received so much validation from Victors story and his amazing genius as an author, I am also dyslexic so I know personally what a triumph this amazing gift of story telling he has is.