JOURNEY OF THE SPARROWS

This powerful first novel, written with the assistance of a Salvadoran poet now living in the US, recounts the struggles of illegal immigrants. The story begins in a crate for a house. Maria, in her early teens, describes her coyote-assisted journey from Mexico to Chicago with her older sister and younger brother. They fled El Salvador with their mother and baby sister after government soldiers killed their father and menaced the family. After their arrival in the States, most of the burden of family support falls on Maria, who finds work in a sweatshop and then, after a raid, cleaning a church. Eventually, it is she who must make the harrowing journey back to Mexico to rescue the baby after their mother has been deported from the US. Vividly, Maria relates her day-to-day struggles and apprehensions; her efforts to maintain faith despite continual setbacks, together with the help offered by others along the way, run through her narrative like constant threads of hope. A gripping, lyrical portrayal of a continuing American dilemma. (Fiction. 11+)