As his life grows ever more troubled, Enrique imagines that reuniting with his mother will repair the hole in his heart. During his teen years in Honduras, he spirals down into serious drug use and antisocial behavior. Enrique’s sister has weathered the eleven-year separation reasonably well, but it takes a heavy toll on the young boy. A single mother with no dependable means of support, she left for the United States when Enrique was five, entrusting her two children into the care of relatives. Worst of all, Enrique’s mother, Lourdes, has been absent from his life for an achingly long time. Gangs and violence are rampant, poverty is entrenched, and opportunities for work and self-betterment are virtually nonexistent.
But the way he sees it, staying in Honduras presents its own bleak and terrifying future. ( Young-reader adaptations are a growing trend in nonfiction publishing.)Īs Enrique launches his eighth attempt to reach the United States by means of train hopping, the risks are clearer than ever to him: death, dismemberment, robbery, extortion, and sexual victimization. This edition, adapted for readers as young as the seventh grade, was released in 2013. The original version was published in 2007 as adult nonfiction. It’s the riveting epic of a Honduran teenager driven to escape intolerable conditions and fueled by the hope of crossing the border into the United States. By every measure, Enrique’s Journey is such a book.
MY TWO CENTS: The best creative non-fiction takes you straight down into the messy, contradictory, gut-wrenching heart of a subject, and awakens your appreciation for its complexity. But he pushes forward, relying on his wit, courage, hope, and the kindness of strangers. Braving unimaginable peril, often clinging to the sides and tops of freight trains, Enrique travels through hostile worlds full of thugs, bandits, and corrupt cops. Now a beloved classic, this page-turner about the power of family is a popular text in classrooms and a touchstone for communities across the country to engage in meaningful discussions about this essential American subject.Įnrique’s Journey recounts the unforgettable quest of a Honduran boy looking for his mother, eleven years after she is forced to leave her starving family to find work in the United States. PUBLISHER’S DESCRIPTION: Based on the Los Angeles Times newspaper series that won two Pulitzer Prizes, this astonishing story puts a human face on the ongoing debate about immigration reform in the United States.
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