From the Bookshelf of DMPL Book Chat…

Solito

Javier Zamora

Start date: July 30, 2024

Finish date: August 12, 2024

Why we're reading this: Solito is Franklin Afternoon Book Discussion's August selection! This book club will be held in person at…more
[close] Solito is Franklin Afternoon Book Discussion's August selection! This book club will be held in person at Franklin Avenue Library on Monday, 8/12 at 1:00 PM. Visit our website or call 515-283-4152 for more details.

Find A Copy At

Libraries

Group Discussions About This Book

No group discussions for this book yet.

What Members Thought

Apr 08, 2024 Karna Converse rated it it was amazing

Shelves: book-club-selection, 2024-library-challenge

First-hand account of a young boy's journey from El Salvador to the United States that reveals the work of coyotes, the helplessness of leaving family, and the helping hands of other migrants who are also making the journey.

Nine-year-old Javier made this seven-week journey in 1999; neither his family in El Salvador nor his parents in the United States had any knowledge of where he was during that time. Zamora's details are vivid, specific, and full of appreciation for the adults who cared for hi First-hand account of a young boy's journey from El Salvador to the United States that reveals the work of coyotes, the helplessness of leaving family, and the helping hands of other migrants who are also making the journey.

Nine-year-old Javier made this seven-week journey in 1999; neither his family in El Salvador nor his parents in the United States had any knowledge of where he was during that time. Zamora's details are vivid, specific, and full of appreciation for the adults who cared for him as if he was their own. The coyotes give the migrants water; food; Mexican names and birthplaces; lyrics to the Mexican national anthem; and names of soccer teams and the president. Others include him in their family.

Zamora notes in a 2022 interview with The Guardian that "The chances of me surviving now would have been slim. In 1999, the coyotes, or human smugglers, genuinely thought they were helping people. Now, in order to smuggle human beings across the border, you have to be part of a cartel. And that has changed everything. There have been multiple cases where people pay the cartels and all the cartel does is throw people over the fence. On top of that, the border has become hugely militarised."

I was especially taken with Zamora's recollection about the landscape: "The landscape looks the exact same everywhere. I can’t tell we’re leaving México. ¿Where are the cities? ¿Where are the signs saying we’re in a new country? This is my third new country: Guate, México, La USA. The air feels different. Colder. But it might just be the night." and "I can never tell whether I’m in La USA or México—the same bushes, the same Lonelies and occasional Fuzzy. Instead of trees, more rocks and a new bush that looks like a tequila plant, except it’s smaller and its leaves aren’t as fat or long."

Thinking about immigration through the eyes of a child is important and Zamora's story emphasizes why family is a driving factor.

2024 selection for Iowa Public Radio's Talk of Iowa Book club and 2024 Omaha Library Challenge,Read a book by, about, or featuring a refugee or immigrant. ...more

1 like · Like · see review