Caravan to the North: Misael's Long Walk by Jorge Argueta (review)
Buy Issue for $25 at JHUP- Caravan to the North: Misael's Long Walk by Jorge Argueta
2019 [112p]
Trade ed. ISBN 978-1-77306-329-4 $16.95
E-book ed. ISBN 978-1-77306-330-0 $14.95
Reviewed from galleys R Gr. 4-8
Misael Martínez and his family seek alternatives to their impoverished, gang-plagued life in San Salvador ("They're the poor/screwing the poor,") says his mother sadly [End Page 108] of the teenaged gangs), so they join a group of people heading north to Mexico and after that, hopefully, the United States. Spare free verse chronicles Misael's journey as he walks across borders, listens to travelers' dreams of the future, and misses his home. Tijuana is a grim awakening, however, with a chilly welcome and a cold shelter to sleep in, and an attempt to cross into the U.S. fails in a storm of tear gas and a lapse into despair and uncertainty. This is a moving look inside the migrant caravans mentioned on the news, and the understated, pared-down language and generous white space make Misael's story accessible to younger and reluctant readers. Argueta succinctly conveys the discordant mixture of hospitality and hostility the migrants encounter as they travel and their fervent hope for a better life. This would be an insightful step up from Buitrago's Two White Rabbits (BCCB 1/16), and it could certainly center a current events discussion. Smudgy, intriguing black and white illustrations introduce each poem; an author's note gives more information, and a map tracks Misael's journey.
