Born in 1908, two years before the start of the Mexican Revolution, Rafael lives in the village of San CristA3bal, in northern Sonora, Mexico, where his father, the village comisario, owns a bar, pool hall, and grocery store. This is a ranching town where vaqueros are heroes, and horses and bulls, as well as coyotes and rattlesnakes, provide thrills and teach lessons that Rafael and his brothers will never forget. The boyas earliest memories are of mounted revolutionaries riding through town and commandeering horses for Pancho Villaas campesino army. When his parents lose their life savings in the revolution, the family crosses the border to Arizona. Life in the north is a struggle, and young Rafael must put aside his dreams of education and work with his brothers picking lettuce wherever laborers are needed.aA heart-warming story of one familyas struggles, survival, and eventual triumph. This immigration saga fits in the tradition of "Barrio Boy" and "Y no se lo trago la tierra." So readable you canat put it down. It captures the history of the turbulent times.aaRudolfo Anaya, author of "Bless Me, Ultima"aRalph M. Floresas "The Horse in the Kitchen: Stories of a Mexican-American Family" is an entertaining and inspirational work of fiction based on the life of the authoras father who moves with his family from Mexico to Arizona to escape the social upheaval of the Mexican Revolution. It is a heartfelt tribute to his father whose life in Mexico and the United States is marked by courage, wisdom, hard work, love, and integrityavalues characteristic of many immigrants.aaFrancisco JimA(c)nez, author of "The Circuit"