Post 3
Skylar Silvera


The book had a very strong beginning with factual statistics about immigration and the dangers that hold while crossing the border illegally. "An estimated 1.7 million children live illegally in the United States, mostly from Mexico and Central America" (p. 241).  I withheld a very strong start to the book which helped its plot seem more interesting to the reader. The detail put into the sentences made them more rich. This detail soon began to evolve into the real conflict in the story. It began to get more dramatic. The last third of the book has become very slow and simple. Enrique is now with his mother but after he faced the challenges he did crossing the border he still had a handful of them once he crossed the border into America. He now had to travel to North Carolina to where his mother was because she moved from where she initially was which was in California. She moved because it was very difficult for her to maintain certain jobs at a time and she still wasn't gaining the money she needed to pay someone to help her children over the border. But Enrique held true to his promise and eventually was reunited with her. The books sentences however during the book were no longer complex. They were short and straight to the point. This made it more engaging for the reader at times where the story seemed to be getting dull. " I observed Enrique washing cars for money. I observed dinner for migrants gathered at the Parroquia de San Jose. I interviewed and observed the lives of other children searching for their for their mothers as well as Enrique" (p. 287).  This made the book easier to read and easier to follow along with. I personally enjoyed the change of tone because I tend to get lost in the end of books because they get to descriptive, but this was very enjoyable to read and a lovely ending.
When Enrique was robbed on one of his first trains going towards Mexico he fell off of it. He was horribly injured and had no food water or money. He didn't know where to go or what he should do. He was alone and extremely discouraged, but he continued walking hoping to find help of water. He stumbled across a town and the towns people sent him to a doctor where the he was shocked by Enrique's condition. He went straight to work and provided him with food, water and medical care free of charge. This beautiful gesture encouraged Enrique to keep trying to go succeed. I often wonder what the world would be like today if gestures like these were given on a regular basis to people in need. Our economy would be stable, the laws for domestic violence would be more strict because there would hardly ever be any and other crimes in general. There would be less hatred and jealously through out nation it would change our perspective and encourage others to be more kind hearted and giving.