FLIGHT

The long trek to “El Norte” becomes even more perilous for two young climate refugees when they’re separated from their parents.

Expanding on the experiences of a character who appeared briefly in his Two Degrees (2022), Gratz focuses on the gut-wrenching perils 13-year-old Daniela López endures as she and her little brother Carlos make their way from Mexico City to Ciudad Juárez on the U.S. border. Driven from their coffee farm in Honduras by spreading blight and looking for safe refuge, Daniela and her family join a northbound “caravan” of fellow refugees—only to be kidnapped in Mexico by gangsters. Separated from their parents after a tumultuous escape but hoping for a reunion, she and Carlos clamber atop a series of freight trains, all dubbed “The Beast,” for a long and exhausting journey that proves rife with constant, deadly dangers ranging from sudden bumps and low tunnels to sweeps by both immigration officials and predatory bandits. Some readers may be left with questions about concrete details, such as how the children were able to get enough to eat and drink while riding The Beast. Still, the flight’s profound terrors, both immediate and imagined, are so sharply felt that readers can’t help but respond. Though the journey is harsh, the author ends on a hopeful note that will hearten young readers. The cast reads as Latine.

Harrowing and focused on an increasingly urgent issue.