INFO ENRIQUE JOURNEY MAIN CHARACTERS

INFO ENRIQUE JOURNEY MAIN CHARACTERS

INFO ENRIQUE JOURNEY MAIN CHARACTERS

An astonishing story that puts a human face on the ongoing debate about immigration reform in the United States, now updated with a new Epilogue and Afterword, photos of Enrique and his family, an author interview, and more—the definitive edition of a classic of contemporary America

Based on the Los Angeles Times newspaper series that won two Pulitzer Prizes, one for feature writing and another for feature photography, this page-turner about the power of family is a popular text in classrooms and a touchstone for communities across the country to engage in meaningful discussions about this essential American subject.
 
Enriques Journey recounts the unforgettable quest of a Honduran boy looking for his mother, eleven years after she is forced to leave her starving family to find work in the United States. Braving unimaginable peril, often clinging to the sides and tops of freight trains, Enrique travels through hostile worlds full of thugs, bandits, and corrupt cops. But he pushes forward, relying on his wit, courage, hope, and the kindness of strangers. As Isabel Allende writes: "This is a twenty-first-century Odyssey. If you are going to read only one nonfiction book this year, it has to be this one."

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"Magnificent . . . Enriques Journey is about love. Its about family. Its about home."—The Washington Post Book World

"[A] searing report from the immigration frontlines . . . as harrowing as it is heartbreaking."—People (four stars)

"Stunning . . . As an adventure narrative alone, Enriques Journey is a worthy read. . . . Nazarios impressive piece of reporting [turns] the current immigration controversy from a political story into a personal one."—Entertainment Weekly

"Gripping and harrowing . . . a story begging to be told."—The Christian Science Monitor

"[A] prodigious feat of reporting . . . [Sonia Nazario is] amazingly thorough and intrepid."—Newsday

From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. Soon to be turned into an HBO dramatic series, Nazarios account of a 17-year-old boys harrowing attempt to find his mother in America won two Pulitzer Prizes when it first came out in the Los Angeles Times. Greatly expanded with fresh research, the story also makes a gripping book, one that viscerally conveys the experience of illegal immigration from Central America. Enriques mother, Lourdes, left him in Honduras when he was five years old because she could barely afford to feed him and his sister, much less send them to school. Her plan was to sneak into the United States for a few years, work hard, send and save money, then move back to Honduras to be with her children. But 12 years later, she was still living in the U.S. and wiring money home. Thats when Enrique became one of the thousands of children and teens who try to enter the U.S. illegally each year. Riding on the tops of freight trains through Mexico, these young migrants are preyed upon by gangsters and c orrupt government officials. Many of them are mutilated by the journey; some go crazy. The breadth and depth of Nazarios research into this phenomenon is astounding, and she has crafted her findings into a story that is at once moving and polemical. Photos not seen by PW. (Feb. 28)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Library Binding edition.

From School Library Journal
Adult/High School Seeking to understand why Latina single mothers leave their children to come to the U.S., and why many children undertake the hazardous journey to reunite with them, Nazario traced one familys story. Enrique was determined to find his mother, who left him in Honduras when he was five. At 16, after seven attempts to make it to Texas, robbed by bandits or police, beaten, jailed, and deported again and again, he finally reached the Rio Grande and earned enough to call her. She sent him money to pay a coyote to smuggle him across the border and the two were reunited, but they are strangers now, their relationship strained. Meanwhile, Enriques girlfriend in Honduras bore his child. Ultimately, she joined him, leaving their three-year-old daughter behind. Mothers leave their children to send back money for better food, clothing, and schooling, yet years of separation strain family ties. The author retraced Enriques journey by traveling on top of trains, hitchhiking, takin g buses, facing the dangers the teen faced. Photographs and interviews with him, family members, other children, and those who provide aid along the way document the hazards of migration. Descriptions of rapes, beatings, and jailing of immigrant children and accounts of those who suffered loss of limbs falling from freight trains are graphic and disturbing. But no one can doubt the authenticity of this reporting. Molly Connally, Chantilly Regional Library, Fairfax County, VA
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Library Binding edition.