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4.21 AVERAGE
4.21 AVERAGE
emotional
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
The story starts out amazingly depressing and then by the end you're left feeling like only fiction could wrap things up so smoothly and neatly.
This is a powerful book although the cover is deceiving. It follows the story of 2 Guatemalan youths trying to cross into the United States for safety since their home environment is extremely dangerous as another family member was murdered by local gangs. My favorite part of the book was the reveal about Joaquin's character and the stories of kindness they encountered on the way. However, the novel is filled with brutal realities of how dangerous it is to enter the United States for asylum.
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
challenging
emotional
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
challenging
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
informative
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Using this for my 8th grade Immigration unit!
The Only Road is a about a twelve year old boy named Jaime Rivera (One of my best friend's being named Jaime Rivera whose first language was Spanish and lives in New Mexico made this odd for me. I kept imagining a 12 year-old version of my friend.) Jaime is from Guatemala whose cousin was murdered by a local gang, and is looking to recruit Jaime and his cousin, Angela.
The prose is easy to grasp and was not very complex. However, I did not find that the prose was too repeating, and unbale to use a variety of words in its descriptions. It has a good message, and makes you think about the reality of peoples lives in South America.
Angela and Jaime meet three boys, Joaquin, Javi and Rafa who they travel with for a portion of their journey. One thing I really like about this book was the foreshadowing and setting up events for the future. Such as Joaquin being a young girl hiding as a boy, and Angela and Jaime using their skills to make money later in the novel. I enjoyed the fact that Rafa was the one to sacrifice himself, and that Jaime was able to realize what he had done. I think the death of Javi occurring off page is fitting in this book. Although I would have preferred to see it happen for context, the idea of never seeing a friend you made again because of a dangerous situation is realistic and appropriate for all ages. I also like not knowing what happened to any of the friends made along the way, we are to assume Javi is dead, but have no idea what happened to Joaquin or Rafa.
I appreciated the fact that this story showed the struggle of making the journey to The United States, but I wish that the struggle within the United States was shown a little bit more, I think the potential for a sequel here would be pretty promising. I do not really have much more to say about this book, it was an easy to follow story, with not too many characters who were still interesting. The only problem I had originally with this book was the fact that there was only one prominent character who was a women, but the revelation of Joaquin fixed that, and made it thought provoking.
The prose is easy to grasp and was not very complex. However, I did not find that the prose was too repeating, and unbale to use a variety of words in its descriptions. It has a good message, and makes you think about the reality of peoples lives in South America.
Angela and Jaime meet three boys, Joaquin, Javi and Rafa who they travel with for a portion of their journey. One thing I really like about this book was the foreshadowing and setting up events for the future. Such as Joaquin being a young girl hiding as a boy, and Angela and Jaime using their skills to make money later in the novel. I enjoyed the fact that Rafa was the one to sacrifice himself, and that Jaime was able to realize what he had done. I think the death of Javi occurring off page is fitting in this book. Although I would have preferred to see it happen for context, the idea of never seeing a friend you made again because of a dangerous situation is realistic and appropriate for all ages. I also like not knowing what happened to any of the friends made along the way, we are to assume Javi is dead, but have no idea what happened to Joaquin or Rafa.
I appreciated the fact that this story showed the struggle of making the journey to The United States, but I wish that the struggle within the United States was shown a little bit more, I think the potential for a sequel here would be pretty promising. I do not really have much more to say about this book, it was an easy to follow story, with not too many characters who were still interesting. The only problem I had originally with this book was the fact that there was only one prominent character who was a women, but the revelation of Joaquin fixed that, and made it thought provoking.
adventurous
challenging
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I guess since I've read ENRIQUE'S JOURNEY, this one wasn't as impactful on me. It would be a great book for my 7th graders, however. Then they can read 90 MILES TO HAVANA or REFUGEE. I didn't really get to know Jaime or his cousin Angela, and they left home so quickly that I didn't get to know much of their life in Guatelmala, either. They had a few hardships, and they also had a lot of people who helped them on their journey.