The Other Side: Stories of Central American Teen Refugees Who Dream of Crossing the Border

Award-winning Mexican author Juan Pablo Villalobos explores illegal immigration with this emotionally raw and timely nonfiction book about ten Central American teens and their journeys to the United States.

You can't really tell what time it is when you're in the freezer.

Every year, thousands of migrant children and teens cross the U.S.-Mexico border. The journey is treacherous and sometimes deadly, but worth the risk for migrants who are escaping gang violence and poverty in their home countries. And for those refugees who do succeed? They face an immigration process that is as winding and multi-tiered as the journey that brought them here.

In this book, award-winning Mexican author Juan Pablo Villalobos strings together the diverse experiences of eleven real migrant teenagers, offering readers a beginning road map to issues facing the region. These timely accounts of courage, sacrifice, and survival--including two fourteen-year-old girls forming a tenuous friendship as they wait in a frigid holding cell, a boy in Chicago beginning to craft his future while piecing together his past in El Salvador, and cousins learning to lift each other up through angry waters--offer a rare and invaluable window into the U.S.-Central American refugee crisis.

In turns optimistic and heartbreaking, The Other Side balances the boundless hope at the center of immigration with the weight of its risks and repercussions. Here is a necessary read for young people on both sides of the issue.

Author: Juan Pablo Villalobos
Publisher: Square Fish
Published: 11/08/2022
Pages: 160
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.31lbs
Size: 8.17h x 5.41w x 0.43d
ISBN: 9781250802651
Audience: Young Adult

Accelerated Reader:
Reading Level: 4.9
Point Value: 3
Interest Level: Middle Grade Plus
Quiz #/Name: 508756 / Other Side: Stories of Central American Teen Refugees Who Dream of Crossing the Border


Award: Kirkus Prize - Finalist

About the Author
Villalobos, Juan Pablo: - Juan Pablo Villalobos was born in Guadalajara, Mexico, in 1973. He studied marketing and Spanish literature. He has researched such diverse topics as the influence of the avant-garde on the work of César Aira and the flexibility of pipelines for electrical installations. He is the author of books including Down the Rabbit Hole and Quesadillas. He lives in Barcelona, Spain.