Javier

Javier is an eight-year-old boy living with his extended family in El Salvador. He enjoys playing and going to school with his friends from town, but the threat of gangs and economic instability becomes insurmountable. He must then find a way to travel through Mexico and into the U.S. to live with his parents in order to make his family proud and keep himself safe. He desires to reunite with his family and find a better life but dreams of El Salvador throughout his journey, knowing he may never be able to return. He also forms strong connections with the migrants who undertake the journey with him and leaves a space in his heart even as the narrative ends because he never learns what became of them.

At the beginning of the memoir, Javier’s parents and other relatives have finally scrounged up enough money to...