The Crossing sensitizes readers to issues of homelessness, poverty, crossgenerational and cross-cultural obligations. It asks us to view borders both as obstacles and opportunities, as fluid and negotiable, not fixed and automatically divisive. While Robert "crosses a border" between death and life, Manny "crosses a border" not only between Mexico and the United States, but between hopelessness and hope, as well.

Both Manny and Robert connect across borders that often divide—those between nations, the young and the old, the hungry and the sated.

In this novel, Paulsen vividly exposes the debilitating effects of war on "survivors" via Sergeant Locke's enactment of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. His unsentimental depiction of Manny's life on the streets may also give more fortunate readers a taste of the courage required for survival by the less fortunate. Although the author remains dispassionate and detached in his telling of this...