
By Jairo Buitrago, Rafael Yockteng (Illustrator), Elisa Amado (Translator)
A child journeys north on a train, seeking a new life, unaware of the destination.
A young girl travels with her father on the roof of a train called The Beast, heading north to the U.S. border. She counts animals and stars, unaware of their destination. As they face soldiers and pauses for her father to earn money, her dreams are filled with constant movement. This poignant tale captures the hopes and challenges of a migrant child's journey, offering a glimpse into the search for a better life.
In this moving and timely story, a young child describes what it is like to be a migrant as she and her father travel north toward the U.S. border. They travel mostly on the roof of a train known as The Beast, but the little girl doesn’t know where they are going. She counts the animals by the road, the clouds in the sky, the stars. Sometimes she sees soldiers. She sleeps, dreaming that she is always on the move, although sometimes they are forced to stop and her father has to earn more money before they can continue their journey. As many thousands of people, especially children, in Mexico and Central America continue to make the arduous journey to the U.S. border in search of a better life, this is an important book that shows a young migrant’s perspective.
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