The Crossing

The Crossing

Author: Gary Paulsen

Page Length: 114

Reading Level: 7

Genre: Fiction

PLOT SUMMARY: Manny is a fourteen year old orphan surviving on the streets of Juarez, Mexico. Manny’s nights are spent in a cardboard box and his days planning how to outwit the older, meaner gang members so that he can grab coins being thrown off the bridge by tourists. Manny dreams of leaving Juarez for the United States. One fateful night Manny decides to try his luck against the border patrol. He runs into the sergeant, a career military man who is haunted by his past. Manny and the sergeant develop an unlikely friendship that is put to the test one fateful night. Will Manny ever make it to the United States, or will he fail like so many others before him?

REVIEW: The book was stark and realistic. The sergeant is depicted in all his military perfection and glory, but also shown realistically as a man haunted by the demons of war. He spends his evenings numbing his mind with alcohol. Manny is ever hopeful despite his sparse lifestyle. He’s a great character to study for strength and perseverance. He never stops trying to better his conditions no matter how hopeless it may seem. This book is very real and in it’s own way violent, dark, and graphic; however, it would likely capture and keep the attention of male students.

Reading this book and also reading an editorial on the need for border patrol might make for a very interesting classroom discussion.

AREAS FOR TEACHING: historical context, narrative effect, predictions, inferences, summarization, point of view, character traits

TOUCHY AREAS-PAGES: alcohol, violence, bull fight (with the goring of the bull), post traumatic stress flashbacks, illegal activity

RELATED BOOKS: The Rifle, Brian’s Winter, Hatchet, Good-bye and Keep Cold, Fallen Angels, The Island

RELATED WEBSITES:

http://martsubhub.lib.wv.us:8000/kcweb/kcContent?isbn=9780531057094&type=review&controlnumber=+++87007738&referedby=titlelist

http://www.bookrags.com/The_Crossing_(Paulsen)

http://litplans.com/authors/Gary_Paulsen.html

http://www.pbs.org/pov/utils/highimpact/delvedeeper/ddborder.pdf

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/26/books/26paul.html?pagewanted=2

REVIEWED BY: Dayna Taylor

Esperanza Rising

Esperanza Rising

Author: Pam Munoz Ryan

Page Length: 262

Reading Level: 4

Genre: Realistic Fiction   

PLOT SUMMARY: As the story begins, Esperanza is living with her parents on their large ranch in Mexico.  Esperanza is six years old and loves spending time with her father who teaches her how to “feel” the land.  The story quickly moves to six years later with Esperanza waiting for her father to return from the day’s work on the ranch.  Esperanza is anticipating his arrival because it is the end of harvest and the next day is her birthday.  There will be a grand party celebrating both.

However, her father does not return and Alfonso, the boss of the field workers, brings the news to Esperanza, her mother, and grandmother that her father has been ambushed and killed.  Many people come to mourn his death and give the family their sympathy.  Esperanza’s two uncles come every day to “sort” through her father’s paperwork.  They bring the news to Esperanza’s mother that the ranch belongs to them and that she can remain on the ranch only if she agrees to marry one of them.  Also, they plan to send Esperanza away to boarding school.

The only solution the mother and daughter have is to move to California with Alfonso, Hortensia, and Miguel to join others who have migrated to the United States to find work and a better life.  They plan to work in the fields helping with the various crops that are grown in California.  This offers a better life to Alfonso’s family, but not to Esperanza and her mother.  They are leaving a life of prominence, luxury and wealth to live with their former employees in dirt floor cabins.

Esperanza has a very hard time dealing with the loss of her father, separation from her grandmother and living in poverty.  All the people of the community know her story and she is ridiculed by some of the other girls.  After her mother becomes ill, Esperanza realizes it is her responsibility to work and make money for the family.  She becomes one of the better field workers and saves her money so that she will be able to bring her grandmother from Mexico to California to join the family.

REVIEW: I enjoyed this book very much.  It is a story of “riches to rags” and how Esperanza overcomes the obstacles of living in a new country with a very different lifestyle.  The book is written in English, but several Spanish words are used, which would be good to use in vocabulary development. On pages 246-247, the writing is an excellent example of descriptive and summative writing.   I think this would be an excellent book to read as a class novel.

AREAS FOR TEACHING: Setting, Characters, Spanish/English Vocabulary, Sequence of Events, Historical Context

RELATED BOOKS: Becoming Naomi Leon, The House on Mango Street, A Year Down Yonder, A Long Way from Chicago, Hitch

MOVIE CONNECTIONS: “Of Mice and Men” & “The Grapes of Wrath”

RELATED WEBSITES:

www.home.jps.net/~gailhd/crossing/esperanza/student.htm

www.bookrags.com/Esperanza_Rising

www.lib.store.yahoo.net/lib/monkeynote/pmEsperanzaRisingSample.pdf

www.nancykeane.com/booktalks/ryan_esperanza.htm

www.emints.org/ethemes/resources/S00001403.shtml

www.edsitement.neh.gov/view_lesson_plan.asp?id=739

www.bcps.org/offices/lis/models/esperanzaeng6/index.htm

REVIEWED BY: Shirley Wagner

Becoming Naomi Leon

Becoming Namoi Leon

Author:  Pam Munoz Ryan

Page Length: 246

Reading Level: 5

Genre: Fiction        

PLOT SUMMARY: Naomi and Owen live with their Gram in a trailer park in Southern California.  The two children have lived with Gram for the past seven years, after their mother abandon them and their father moved to Mexico.  Everything was fine, until Skyla, their mom turned up at the trailer one autumn day. 

Skyla, brought presents for Naomi and braided her hair in a French braid.  She had a new boyfriend, Clive, and shared that they planned to move to Las Vegas after he went through his “tattoo training school.” Their plan was to take Naomi and get custody of his daughter.

This plan was totally unacceptable to Gram, Owen, and Naomi because they new that Skyla had been in drug and alcohol rehabilitation, and was drinking again.  They did not want their family of the past seven years to be separated.  When Skyla threatens to get custody through the court, Gram makes several calls and two weeks before Christmas break, the neighbors and Gram, Owen, and Naomi leave in the trailer and head for Mexico to find the children’s father.

REVIEW: This is an excellent well-written book for all ages. Females would probably enjoy it more, but I think it would be a great book for a class novel.  Ryan does an excellent job of developing each of the characters and the setting. She vividly creates life in the trailer park and also in Mexico during the Christmas season.

At the back of the book, there is a section about the author, a question and answer section with the author, a history of the radish carving festival and a section on collective nouns, which Ryan uses to name each of the chapters.

I would list this as one of my favorites of young adult novels.

AREAS FOR TEACHING: Sequence of Events, Characters, Setting, Conflict. Conclusions, Generalizations and Predictions, Collective Nouns

RELATED BOOKS: Esperanza Rising

RELATED WEBSITES:

www.pammunozryan.com/naomi.html

www.kidsreads.com/reviews/0439269695.asp

www.school.discoveryeducation.com/quizzes35/awoolf/MTBecomingNaomi.html

www.quia.com/quiz/1103127.html

REVIEWED BY: Shirley Wagner

Crossing the Wire

Crossing the Wire

Author: Will Hobbs           

Page Length: 216

Reading Level: 4

Genre: Realistic Fiction   

PLOT SUMMARY: Victor Flores is a 15-year-old boy trying to support his family by farming corn in Mexico.  The prices have fallen so much that Victor and his mom realize they will not be able to survive in their home much longer. 

Victor’s neighbor, Rico, has received money from his brother in the U. S. to pay “coyotes” (illegal transporters of Mexican immigrants) to get him across the border (wire).  Victor has no money, but decides with his mother, that he must, too, leave Mexico and “Cross the Wire” to find work to support the family.

The story is of the long and grueling journey, which Victor endures to get north of the border.  He meets with others moving northward and they help Victor with food and travel.  He learns a lot from Miguel who has been to the U. S.  many times, but they eventually get separated.  When Victor gets caught and is sent back to Nogales, he runs into Rico.  Together the two of them do “cross the wire”.

REVIEW: This book is a relevant realistic fiction book that I believe would be of interest to the large Hispanic population in Texas schools today.  It tells of the hardships of living in Mexico, that make its residents long to move to the United States to have the chance to make a life on their own.

It also addresses how hard it is to immigrate into the U. S. since the 9/11 attack.  Hobbs uses many similes in his writing, which could be used as examples for teaching in writing.  He did an extensive background study of the area and the people before writing the book.

AREAS FOR TEACHING: Sequence of Events, Compare/Contrast, Character, Setting, Cause/Effect, Historical Context, and Predictions

RELATED BOOKS: The Crossing by Gary Paulsen, Coyotes, The Devil’s Highway, Tunnel Kids

RELATED WEBSITES:

www.willhobbsauthor.com/bookspages/crossingthewirepage.html

www.harperchildrens.com/webcontent/teachers_guides/pdf/0060741392.pdf

www.ssymborski.edublogs.org/2008/05/15/crossing–the–wire–by–will–hobbs

www.secondaryenglish.com/crossing the wire.html

REVIEWED BY: Shirley Wagner