The Other Side: Stories of Central American Teen Refugees Who Dream of Crossing the Border by Juan Pablo Villalobos - HIGH

The Other Side: Stories of Central American Teen Refugees Who Dream of Crossing the Border by Juan Pablo Villalobos, 147 pages. NON-FICTION. Farrar Straus Giroux Books for Young Readers (Macmillan), 2019. $18.

Language: G (0 swears); Mature Content PG; Violence: PG

BUYING ADVISORY: MS, HS – ADVISABLE

AUDIENCE APPEAL:  HIGH

Mexican author Villalobos gives insight on eleven teenagers’ immigration experiences as they risk their lives working their way from dangerous homelands across Mexico to try and find a safer life and often family in the United States. 

These stories are brief but compelling.  This quick read should build empathy into the immigration process and gratitude for what the United States offers.  My only problem with the book was that the stories weren’t more fleshed out.  These haunting stories will stay with you. 

Michelle in the Middle