I loved that this book was written in both Spanish and English! ( )

Similarly to My Name is Jorge, this is a collection of poems in both English and Spanish that chronicle a young person's life as an immigrant. However, instead of focusing on the life of an immigrant in America, We Are Like the Clouds focuses more on a child's memories of home and the journey northwards to immigrate to the US. The poet is from El Salvador, so the journey they experienced included the entire country of Mexico and was understandably more prominent in the poet's mind. I love when these book include side-by-side translations, it lets kids gain some passive language knowledge, or they can be used in Spanish language or ESL classes. ( )

Somos como las nubes is written by a Salvadoran poet who described the dark and dangerous subjects of the immigration issue. There is sheer emotion that there is hope when arriving in the United States. There are various poems of different perspectives from strong parents who carried their children or young children, alone and fearful, crossing the hot and dry desert. The art by Ruano used beautiful realism of communicating the emotions and conditions of the thousands of boys, girls, and young people who fleed their home country. The first pages capture the accuracy of the places where they lived and the reasons for leaving their home country due to violence and poverty. The illustrations teach readers the difficult experiences of the children in how they had to lay on the floors of the desert when traveling and the transportation of the train. The illustrations enhance the story by how some parts may not be understandable, and it truly describes the situations and the reactions of the scenarios. The book is written in Spanish and English to shed light on the situations of immigrants of the Spanish speakers. At the same time, the English translation provides the reader an understanding of what the immigrants struggle with. Argueta wrote poems about his encounters with the young children from El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Mexico. He was able to share their experiences and listen to their testimonies. He was also a fleeing immigrant when his home country, El Salvador, was undergoing war in the 1980s. He visited numerous shelters in California in 2014 when thousands of children began to arrive anxiously awaiting their future. Many hoped a family member would come to take charge to remain in the United States; many wanted to return home or both. The content and language are complex and need to have a sense of guide. Therefore, it is recommended for a book for higher-level elementary and bilingual classrooms. Argueta used vocabulary that was country-specific, slang, or technical in the text, providing a definition for understanding. The text used the figurative language of sharing the stories, while Ruano uses the illustrations to portray the emotions that Arguta creates with the poetry. As a daughter of immigrants from Mexico, it allowed me to understand their experiences of how my parents left their home to have better opportunities for them and their children. My parents would retell their stories of how their home country was; it was vivid but at the same time with a sense of nostalgia of longing to return home. Immigration is slowly becoming a social issue in how there is a current debate on illegal immigration by the programs of resources to assist while providing help to the low-income population already in the country. Another relevant text of the same social issue is by the same author, Caravan to the North: Misael's Long Walk, a novel about Misael Martinez, a Salvadoran boy, and his family joins the caravan to the United States. It provides various reasons why people need to leave and sadness for leaving their home. ( )

The author describes what it’s like for the people living in El Salvador. The people start struggling when they have to move to live a better life. ( )