Review: "The Only Road," by Alexandra Diaz

Living in Guatemala is all Jaime knows, but when his cousin Miguel is murdered by the local gang, Jaime doesn't have a choice but to leave his family behind and attempt to seek refuge in America with his older brother Tomas. Jaime's family doesn't want him to be murdered and they definitely don't want him to be forced to join the gang, so they decide to send Jaime and his cousin Angela on the difficult road to America. They pay smugglers in advance, but the road is paved with dangerous situations because their journey is 4000 kilometers. They can trust no one. They must protect their money at all costs or their journey will be for nothing.

In the age of locking innocent immigrant children in cages, I really appreciated reading this book. Immigrating to America in order to flee violence in a person's home country is nothing new. Thousands have done it. But to see this from a 12-year-old's perspective is really touching.

Mrs. Denney's Rating: ***1/2

#review #immigrants #realisticfiction #travel #violence #multicultural