 | Enrique's journey : the true story of a boy determined to reunite with his mother Author: Nazario, Sonia | |
| Price: $9.83 | ||
Summary:
It is the true story of Enrique, a teenager from Honduras, who sets out on a journey, braving hardship and peril, to find his mother, who had no choice but to leave him when he was a child and go to the United States in search of work.
| Accelerated Reader Information: Interest Level: MG+ Reading Level: 6.20 Points: 11.0 Quiz: 160669 | Reading Counts Information: Interest Level: 9-12 Reading Level: 5.50 Points: 18.0 Quiz: 40089 | |
Full Text Reviews:
School Library Journal - 09/01/2013 Gr 7 Up—When Enrique was seven years old, his mother, a single parent faced with crippling economic difficulties in her native Honduras, migrated to the United States in hopes of securing a brighter future for her family. While her sacrifice provided important economic advantages, the separation eventually drove 17-year-old Enrique to embark on a four-month, 12,000 mile journey to reunite with her, traveling largely on the rooftops of trains into the United States as an undocumented migrant. In this updated version of Enrique's Journey (Random, 2006), adapted for young adult readers, Nazario offers a compelling account of a young man's brave efforts to find the parent he had not seen in 10 years, and that reunion's complex, unforeseen consequences. The journey tells the larger story of undocumented Latin American migrants in the United States. This adaptation has been tightened to focus more on Enrique's personal story, although some unflattering details (including drug use and problems with the law) have been slightly smoothed over. Nazario's straightforward, almost clipped, journalistic writing style largely serves the complex, sprawling story effectively. Backmatter includes an afterword offering substantial analysis of issues at play with undocumented migrants and notes detailing Nazario's research and writing process, including the re-creation of certain dialogue. Exploring important issues of immigration on both a personal and global scale, this title would be a valuable addition to young adult collections.—Ted McCoy, Oakland Public Library, CA - Copyright 2013 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission.
Booklist - 09/01/2013 In this adaptation of a 2006 adult title of the same name, Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist Nazario offers young readers a compelling account of a modern-day immigration odyssey. Retracing 17-year-old Enrique’s trek on foot from Tegucigalpa, Honduras, through Central America atop freight trains, to Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, and across the Rio Grande on an inner tube, Nazario illuminates the plight of thousands of children who desperately seek to reunite with parents who have come to the U.S. seeking higher wages. Nazario’s narrative chronicles the profound dangers from gangs and smugglers, extreme kindnesses from clergy and generous souls, and Enrique’s enduring courage. Comprehensive background notes document Nazario’s own journey throughout the trek and her current contact with Enrique, his mother, and additional family members. This powerfully written survival story personalizes the complicated, pervasive, and heart-wrenching debates about immigration and immigrants’ rights and will certainly spark discussion in the classroom and at home. - Copyright 2013 Booklist.
