2014
WISE Score
Amazon
A heart-pounding, true-life survival story of a kid riding the tops of freight trains to find his mom.
4.5
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This isn't a 'fun' weekend read, but it's an essential one. Sonia Nazario took her Pulitzer-winning reporting and stripped away the academic fluff to give kids a raw, honest look at what people will endure for family.
It’s gritty, it’s stressful, and it’s occasionally heartbreaking, but it’s also one of the best tools out there for raising a kid who actually understands the world outside their own bubble. If your kid is starting to ask real questions about the news, hand them this.
Perfect for 12 and up. It’s a staple in 7th and 8th-grade classrooms because it’s sophisticated enough for teens but accessible enough for younger middle schoolers who are ready for real-world topics.
At its core, this is a story about the unbreakable bond between a mother and child. It models extreme grit and determination, though the world Enrique moves through is often cruel and indifferent.
As a work of narrative nonfiction, it doesn't build fantasy worlds, but it forces readers to vividly imagine a life and a set of stakes entirely foreign to most comfortable teenagers.
This is a heavy read. It documents the real-world dangers of 'The Beast' (freight trains), gang violence, and hunger. It’s safe for the intended middle-school-and-up audience, but it isn't a 'light' book.
This is top-tier educational material. It puts a human face on the abstract 'immigration debate' and teaches geography, sociology, and political history through a deeply personal lens.
The grown-up original: This is the official young readers adaptation of Enrique's Journey by Sonia Nazario — Sonia Nazario's own retelling, at a length and reading level a middle-schooler can finish. When they close this one and want more, the original is the natural next step.
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