Crossing the Wire
Grade 5 Up Ever since his family moved to the tiny village of Los &Aacute;rboles, Victor has been best friends with Rico. When Rico tells him that he has enough money to pay for a coyote to help him cross into El Norte, Victor is unable to decide if he, too, should go along and look for work or try to feed his family with the pitiful annual corn harvest. The decision is made for him the next day when he discovers that the corn prices have bottomed out and that there is no point in even planting this year. Readers suffer with the 15-year-old as he makes his painful decision to leave his mother and younger siblings and attempts the dangerous border crossing, jumping trains, fleeing thieves and border officials, and suffering from thirst and hunger. His desperation and fear are completely believable as he faces near-death situations and must decide whom to trust. The author deftly weaves information concerning the local geography and customs into the plot. The story is well paced, sustaining readers' attention throughout. Pair this novel with Ann Jaramillo'sLa L&iacute;nea(Roaring Brook, 2006) for another fictional view of young people crossing the border between the U.S. and Mexico.Melissa Christy Buron, Epps Island Elementary, Houston, TXCopyright &copy; Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.