12 Aug / From North to South | Del Norte al Sur by René Colato Laínez, illustrated by Joe Cepeda
José and his Papá live in San Diego. Mamá used to live with them until the factory where she works was raided, and Mamá was sent away to Tijuana, Mexico. Two weeks since her sudden disappearance, José and Papá will finally be able to see her. With excited anticipation, the pair drive over the border – from north to south – to the Centro Madre Assunta, a refuge for immigrant women and children who have been deported from or are waiting to cross south to north and enter the U.S. [The Centro, by the way, is a real place … and a portion of book’s royalties are being directed there.]
José flies into his mother’s waiting arms with shared cries of “‘I missed you so much!'” Mamá introduces her family to her temporary new life, her new friends, the other children, the empty walls of her room waiting to be filled with special pictures José has drawn just for her.
José quickly learns from the other children that he is one of the lucky ones to be able to spend time with his Mamá. Reunion is everyone’s hope and dream, but wishes can’t always come true. Mamá, too, is lucky: Papá is a permanent U.S. resident and he already has a lawyer working to bring Mamá home.
Still, when the day is over, separation is imminent, and José and Papá must leave Mamá behind as they head home. Sitting with him in the back of the not-yet-moving car, Mamá tells José a story until he falls asleep … and he dreams of the someday soon when they can all be together again.
Author René Colato Laínez is an LA-based elementary school teacher who writes in the “Introduction” about one his students whose father was deported. That student, he finds, is not alone, in missing family members. He adds with urgency that most of these students dealing with the trauma of family separation are U.S.-born.
With the latest in unjust immigration upheavals in Arizona and beyond, José and his parents – and too many of Laínez’s students – are some of the actual faces of real people, real families being torn apart by seemingly arbitrary, anonymous laws. From North to South – presented in both English and Spanish for even broader appeal and reach – is an effective, necessary reminder beyond just the numbers of how human lives are at the mercy of policymakers who are far, far away from the real people.
Readers: Children
Published: 2010