This is the final book I'll review this week that deals with an issue of growing concern in our desert Southwest: immigration. The other two were Immigrant from the Stars and Days of the Dead.
Beast Rider uses a fictional lens to shine a spotlight on the horrific psychological effects of Central American migration on unaccompanied minors.
The train that many migrants steal aboard to reach the United States is a killer. It's a killer on the tracks and it hides killers in its bowels, drawing predators like moths to a flame.
Even though 12-year-old Manuel has seen the mangled victims of The Beast left to die outside his modest farm along the tracks, he chooses to ride alone to reach his older brother, Tono. (Sorry for Strikingly's lack of a ῀ )
He pays dearly to be reunited, only to discover, in a quiet friendship with a migrant from even more distant shores that...well, I won't spoil it. Know it was a real tear-jerker, in part because no teen should be burdened with that at the beginning of their life.
I'd love it if you decide to teach this and could share your lesson plans and the resources you create for it. The publisher doesn't offer any so I can't recommend it in Teachers.
