First Crossing: Stories About Teen Immigrants

First Crossing: Stories About Teen Immigrants
Editor: Donald R. Gallo
Publisher: Candlewick Press
ISBN-10: 0763632910
ISBN-13: 978-0763632915

Recommended for grades 7-10

Wow! Eleven well known authors write about the immigrant experience for teenagers. The stories are as different as the countries each immigrant comes from and completely absorbing. There are stories from Cambodia, Korea, Romania, Mexico, Venezuela among others.

Pam Muñoz Ryan's First Crossing tells the story of a young teen boy from Jalisco’s first trip across the border in Tijuana. It’s so heartbreaking. The story tells of the coyotes, how much people pay for the crossing and the dangers involved in doing so. It made me cry.

I loved David Lubar’s story of a Romanian boy that gets sent to Alaska rather than Arkansas with his family as they’ve been told. When his new school friends find out he is from Transylvania, they find new ways of testing him for vampiric abilities. It’s funny, quirky and different.

In My Favorite Chaperone, a girl from Kazakhstan describes the differences in culture and learns to fit in. This one was one of my favorites, especially when she is translating for her parents about her little brother and changes the translation to minimize the trouble her little brother gets into.

I think this is an important book for both the YA crowd as well as adults. The stories promote tolerance, explain the immigrant experience and really do a good job explaining all the very real reasons why people come here.

The Importance of a Piece of Paper

I’ve long been a fan of Jimmy Santiago Baca’s poems and when I found this little book sitting on a dusty shelf of a used bookstore in Hollywood, I grabbed it. I read it coming home on the train on the same day and finished it as soon as I got in the door, forgetting dinner, work or anything else I had to do that night. It’s that good.

The Importance of a Piece of Paper is a collection of short stories, each one a shining facet of this diamond of a book. In Matilda’s Garden, an old man struggles with day-to-day life as he mourns for his dead wife. The story is almost ethereal, a fairy tale of flowers and grief. It is also touching and uncannily real. I’ve seen this kind of grief before. We all have an abuelo, an abuelita, a tia or tio, a mom or a dad who has lost their life partner, their companero who has been with them for so man years that when they lose them, they are lost. This story captures all that grief, longing, memories and love. It’s beautiful and my favorite of the collection.

There are other stories as well, each one with it’s own message, feel and emotion. The Importance of a Piece of Paper, the title story tells of a brother who has sold his piece of inherited ranch land out from under his siblings. The story tells of the feelings of betrayal, rage, hurt and of the struggle of keep the land that has been in their family. Again, Santiago Baca touches his fingers to the pulse of who we are, how we think and feel. This story could be about any of us Mexicanos, we’ve all known something a little like this.

In Enemies, another of my favorites the story is about three prisoners of different races who have spent years in solitary confinement and hating each other. Suddenly, unexpectedly, they are released and are left with only their hatred of each other. The journey they make, both on their way home and within themselves is revealing and gives much room for thought.

Jimmy Santiago Baca’s masterful use of words in this lovely collection of stories and leaves the reader wanting more.

Every Night is Ladies Night by Michael Jaime-Becerra

This collection of short stories is wonderful and intriguing. Mr. Becerra's imagery is astounding and beautiful.

I loved how each of the ten stories interconnected and told different parts of each person's very interesting and sometimes sad life. I found myself eagerly turning pages and unwilling to put the book down as I became wrapped up in each story.

From the tired, old mariachi singer in "Media Vuelta" to the widow who drives an ice cream truck each character engaged me with their own personal anguish and memories.

Devil Talk: Stories by Daniel Olivas

In these startling stories, men and women are challenged and confronted with demons, both real and imagined. Some of the stories are chilling, some funny and they all leave you wanting more. They are surprising and the reader never knows what is going to happen next from one story to another or even within each story in itself.

This is the first time I have read Daniel Olivas and I was quite taken with his use of language and wry humor. A few of his stories scared the hell out of me and made my blood run cold. The story of the Devil who lives in Malibu and a demonic game of dominoes was, I think my favorite.

Mr. Olivas touches on our fears, he brings back La Llorona and the Cucui stories of our youth and he brings back that same chill that made us run for our Abuelita’s warm kitchens, hugs and a cup of champurrado.