the illustrations in this book were very bold yet pleasing to look at. the story line follows the struggles that immigrants face when they enter the country illegally.

I thought that this book was very eye opening to the real issues that are going on in our country today. The features that I liked about this book is that it was bilingual, this is helpful for the students that are not English proficient. On every page in the book they the text written in English and either lower on the page or on the next page they have the text written in Spanish too. I also really enjoyed the plot of the book. When ICE was coming around the village looking for illegal immigrants, I thought it was amazing that the main character was risking her life to try and help her new friend and his mother to be safe. The meaning of the book is hardships aren’t so hard when you have a good friend to help you. ( )

There were many things that I liked about this book. The main thing that I liked about this book was it offered the story in both English and Spanish. I thought this was very helpful because the book was about a two Mexican children, so a lot of the children that might be reading this book speak Spanish. I also liked this book because even though I was reading the English part, they still incorporated Spanish words. For example "They heard a woman say, "Yes, I saw some over there," pointing to the gringo side of town- the white side." This would be very helpful to the reader because it defined what the Spanish word meant. This would be fun for a reader who did not know Spanish, because they would be learning new words. What I didn't like about this book was most of the plot. From the beginning she was talking about how the Herb lady was going to help him, but you never learned the signifigance of her. She was a very small part in the book when it seemed like she should have been a bigger part. This made it confusing to me as the reader because it seemed like the plot was disorganized and ended abruptly. I did like the how the main idea of the story was about an illegal immigrant boy, because this is not something you read about in children's books often. It makes the book very believable because I do know there are children who cross the border from Mexico to come to United States. Even though it was a non fiction book, it used accurate interpretations on how a illegal immigrant would feel. The fact that there aren't many books out there like this one in particular, the plot, characters, and the way the book was set up made it very engaging. ( )

There are a couple of reasons that I liked this book with the first one being that the author’s story pushes readers to think about tough issues and broadens perspectives. In the story there is a boy who has come across the border and is living in poverty with his mother. In the story the boy is being bullied. Bullying is so prevalent in our time even if you’re not an immigrant that it is unreal. In touching on this topic the other makes you think tough issues such as bullying. Another reason why I like this story is because the style of the illustrations fit the written text. While reading the story and looking at the pictures, the pictures depicted just what the text was saying. The illustrations were so good on their own that it could have been a wordless book and the message would have still been very clear. The message of the story is sometimes we have to come out our comfort zone and stand up for and do what’s right no matter the consequences.

Is about a girl who helps a boy and his family have a new life in Texas after crossing the border. Can be used in an ESL classroom to teach kids how to help one another and how everyone has their own story. Can have kids write their story or tell their story to get to know one another. ( )