Reviews

The Other Side: Stories of Central American Teen Refugees Who Dream of Crossing the Border by Rosalind Harvey, Juan Pablo Villalobos

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archytas's review against another edition

reflective fast-paced

4.75

This is an extraordinarily moving little read. Villalobos has expertly woven the stories of these eleven children to bring us into the inner worlds of kids risking their lives crossing multiple borders. He captures their voices impeccably, including that capacity of children to rationalise the terrifying. As they are telling their stories, we know these 11 survive, but many do not. Their journeys are varied - train jumping, desert hiking, river swimming. But other aspects are depressingly similar: the threat of violence that pushes them into the journey, the ordeal of the detention in the freezing cold, with little food, and no space to sit or lie down. The distress of growing up without a present parent. This is not a book that deals with the policy failures but it is one that spells out the consequences, from the perpectives of those with little voice.

kshertz's review against another edition

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challenging emotional fast-paced

4.0

This is stories from actual children going through our immigration system. I now see these children sleeping in airports and out in the desert in freezing temperatures. It’s unbelievable what our government does to anyone let alone children. It was a good reminder to keep fighting the system to make sure other children don’t have to go through what these children have gone through.

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