Enrique's Journey

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I think if you are going to become an educator, books like this one that confront a topic like immigration is a necessity to read. As I went through the public school system, I had many friends that came from very poor immigrant families, many of them with parents who moved here before the child to save up money for their children. I think this book would have worked great in my classrooms due to the large amount of Hispanics who lived in my school district. Many kids would connect the journey with their own, or from the stories they have heard from their parents journey.

The division of families has been going in immigration and will likely continue for some time. The division happens in two ways, like Carmen, Nazario's housekeeper who left her children behind to send them money, and by our government separating them physically when they enter the country. In both ways, it is impossible not to feel extreme sympathy for the families, the mothers, and most of all the children. I think this novel does a great job in exposing youth to the hardships that immigrants face in our society. Many students in our society are only exposed to issues like immigration through their parents beliefs. This can cause students to be condemned to the opinions and beliefs of their parents which may be out of touch, or inherently incorrect. I think improvements for the immigration process will begin once the entire country is made aware of these hardships and they begin to transcend political bias to do what is right.


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