A great book to have on shelves in classrooms. It is bilingual, which I think is awesome. It displays a family divided because of immigration / deportation. From a childs point of view, his mother cannot get back into America. It shows him and his father going to visit her, and it shows her life in the home for the deported. There are many children who got separated from their families. It is sad, bittersweet, but shows a very big reality of struggles families face as immigrants. ( )

A great book to show and illustrate immigration. The story might be heart wrenching in breaking apart a family for being undocumented but the love between the family really what gives this book the traction to be great. It allows for exploration of what really happens in the world in a way young children can understand. ( )

This story is told in the point of view of a young boy, José, who tells his emotional story of his Mother being deported back to Mexico from the U.S for not having immigration papers. José and his Father go to visit his Mother, where they bring her clothes and some of José's drawings, with the hopes that his Mother will recieve permanent residency soon. The oil paintings capture the essence of the story by showing detail of the emotions of the characters, and the locations of the story. This is a great book for teaching Spanish to young students, since it has the Spanish translation underneath of the English. This is a great visual tool for young students to compare the English and Spanish translations of words. This book has a sweet ending of José dreaming about crossing the border with his Mother, and them being a family again. I would definitely recommend this book for a lesson about immigration to students. ( )

This book is written in both English and Spanish.It is the story of young Jose, who lives in San Diego with his family, when his mother one day does not come home. It turns out that Jose's mother has been deported by immigration officials. Today is the day Jose gets to travel to Mexico to see and reunite with his mother! Jose travels to Tijuana to visit his mother who is being held in an immigration center. He meets other children and families who have been separated from their loved ones and he realizes how lucky he is to even be able to visit his mother, when others are not. This is a very culturally-relevant book, given today's political climate, and can be used in schools facing such troubles. ( )

This book is about a hispanic family living in San Diego. The mother of the family gets sent back to Tijuana because she doesn't have her papers and the family is forced to have to deal with this devastating separation.
The book is told in both English and Spanish, which I thought was a nice touch. ( )