ladypolf's review
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
medium-paced
5.0
Graphic: Abandonment and Deportation
Moderate: Xenophobia, Vomit, Alcohol, Cursing, Death, and Confinement
Minor: Excrement, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, and War
hrserrano's review
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
5.0
Graphic: Excrement, Violence, Racism, Dysphoria, Deportation, Vomit, and Confinement
leweylibrary's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
tense
slow-paced
5.0
THIS is the book that someone wanting to understand what it's like to migrate from South or Central America should read rather than American Dirt.
While I do wish I would've gotten a bit more from Javier's adult perspective--that last chapter had me SOBBING--this was still such a powerful and important book. Javier, a poet, has such an incredible voice and apparently an incredible memory because holy cow remembering things with this level of detail so many years later. I also wish we would've gotten to experience more of his reunion with his parents!! That's the part that you're waiting for the whole time and then all you get are two shadows and a small reflection from 2021 on what it was like to see them. I also think I might have enjoyed the physical book more because I do not know enough Spanish for the Spanish and Spanglish parts to be very clear to me audibly 😅
While I do wish I would've gotten a bit more from Javier's adult perspective--that last chapter had me SOBBING--this was still such a powerful and important book. Javier, a poet, has such an incredible voice and apparently an incredible memory because holy cow remembering things with this level of detail so many years later. I also wish we would've gotten to experience more of his reunion with his parents!! That's the part that you're waiting for the whole time and then all you get are two shadows and a small reflection from 2021 on what it was like to see them. I also think I might have enjoyed the physical book more because I do not know enough Spanish for the Spanish and Spanglish parts to be very clear to me audibly 😅
Graphic: Deportation, Confinement, and Excrement
100_pages_hr's review against another edition
emotional
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
4.0
Graphic: Deportation, Excrement, Abandonment, Cursing, and Confinement
kshertz's review
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
5.0
I can’t say enough good things about this book. This story is so raw and true. The journey is so brutal for such a small child. The trauma and the pain is felt on the page. This author puts it all out there and I am grateful. It allows me to share with my students what kids their age are going through and continue to go through. For some of them, they can also feel less alone reading this book. I want every teen to know this authors name and story so they can be a generation that doesn’t allow for false rhetoric to persist around those coming across fake borders. Amazing book. Have everyone you know read it.
Graphic: Violence, Forced institutionalization, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Racism, Body horror, Cultural appropriation, Confinement, Abandonment, Blood, Deportation, Trafficking, and Police brutality
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