Synopsis
Miguel has dreamed of joining his parents in California since the day they left him behind in Mexico six year, eleven months, and twelve days ago. On the morning of his fifteenth birthday, Miguel's wait is over.
Or so he thinks. The trip North to the border - la linea - is fraught with dangers. Thieves. Border guards. And a grueling, two-day trek across the desert. It would be hard enough to survive alone. But it's almost impossible with his tag-along sister in tow.
Their money gone and their hopes nearly dashed, Miguel and his sister have no choice but to hop the infamous mata gente as it races toward the border. As they cling to the roof of the speeding train, they hold on to each other, and to their dreams. But they quickly learn that you can't always count on dreams - even the ones that come true.
Or so he thinks. The trip North to the border - la linea - is fraught with dangers. Thieves. Border guards. And a grueling, two-day trek across the desert. It would be hard enough to survive alone. But it's almost impossible with his tag-along sister in tow.
Their money gone and their hopes nearly dashed, Miguel and his sister have no choice but to hop the infamous mata gente as it races toward the border. As they cling to the roof of the speeding train, they hold on to each other, and to their dreams. But they quickly learn that you can't always count on dreams - even the ones that come true.
Ann Jaramillo has been a middle school teacher in Salinas, California since 1971. She has taught new immigrant arrival teenagers from Mexico and students of Mexican descent born in Salinas, California. She is proud to be married to her husband, Luis, an attorney representing migrant farmworkers, for thirty-eight years. (Don’t get her started talking about her writer son Luis and his partner Matthew, or alternative-energy son Mateo and wife Virginia or most of all, new granddaughter, Carolina Clover.)
Her family is famously all about words, from Grandma Petie who could recite poems she had memorized sixty years before, and composed many herself, to Grandma Dorie, champion Scrabble player and poet herself. She wants all young people to know and feel the power of words to both change lives and the world.
Her family is famously all about words, from Grandma Petie who could recite poems she had memorized sixty years before, and composed many herself, to Grandma Dorie, champion Scrabble player and poet herself. She wants all young people to know and feel the power of words to both change lives and the world.