by Ann Jaramillo
Review:
When fifteen-year-old Miguel leaves his rancho deep in Mexico to migrate to California across la linea, the border, his life is about to begin. Or so he thinks.
This book was a complete page turner and a satisfying read nonetheless. The past few young adult books that I recently read on immigration were from a female point of view, but La Linea was from a young males point of view, which I loved. Miguel and his younger sister Elena are in pursuit of being free in the U.S. and will go to any extreme to get there. Leaving their grandma's Mexican home to make the dangerous journey north to be reunited with their parents, the two experience the fear and danger that any illegal immigrant must feel. The characters that they meet and the experiences that they have are told in a manner that you do not want to put this book down. You root for them as they experience fear, hunger, thirst and exhaustion. La Linea is Jaramillo's first book.
http://www.ailf.org/teach/teacherguide2007.pdf
http://www.aypf.org/forumbriefs/1999/fb062599.htm
