In this moving and timely story, a young child describes what it is like to be a migrant as she and her father travel north toward the U.S. border.
They travel mostly on the roof of a train known as The Beast, but the little girl doesn’t know where they are going. She counts the animals by the road, the clouds in the sky, the stars. Sometimes she sees soldiers. She sleeps, dreaming that she is always on the move, although sometimes they are forced to stop and her father has to earn more money before they can continue their journey.
As many thousands of people, especially children, in Mexico and Central America continue to make the arduous journey to the U.S. border in search of a better life, this is an important book that shows a young migrant’s perspective.
Where are we going?” I ask sometimes, but no one answers.
We wait by the side of the highway. We aren’t traveling right now.
There is a boy. I count one there isn’t any other.
Papá works while we wait like we do almost every day.
The boy stays with me. We count the cars that are going by, the dogs that are going by, but I don’t think the boy knows how to count very well.
I show him my clouds. The ones that have shapes.
And he shows me his box. There are two white rabbits in it.
A Kirkus Reviews Best Picture Book of the Year
A School Library Journal Best Picture Book of the Year
A NCTE Charlotte Huck Award for Outstanding Fiction for Children Recommended Book
A USBBY Outstanding International Book
A Bank Street College of Education Best Children's Book of the Year
Selected for the Notable Books for a Global Society list
Hope and hardship coexist in this haunting look at refugees fleeing home in hopes of a safer, more secure life. Publishers Weekly, starred review
An important and timely picture book forlc1