Pam Munoz Ryan
Amazon rating: 4.7/5.0, grades 3-7
Good Reads: 4.13/5
Common Sense Media: 4/5, ages 9+
4Rbooks: 5/6, Grades 4+
247 pages
Synopsis:
Max lives the typical life of a 12-year-old boy in Santa Maria. He plays soccer and dreams of making the town’s team as a goalie with his best friend Chuy. He helps his father and grandfather with the family business, stone masonry, making bridges for better access into town. He loves his dog Lola, family dinners with his aunts and uncle, and telling stories with his grandfather.
But Max doesn’t know what happened to his mother. She disappeared sometime after he was born and has never been heard from since. Max has many questions, but his father doesn’t like to talk about it. Until one day when Max’s father tells him the story of the “hidden ones” and the guardians who protect them. Max learns more about the story from his grandfather, including his family’s secret role.
While his father is away trying to find his birth certificate so Max can try out for the town team, Max finds himself with the opportunity to become a guardian himself, protecting a young girl named Isadora as she tries to escape to Mananaland, “tomorrow.” They take off on a quest to find the guardabarrera who can lead Isadora on to safety, and maybe help Max find the answers to his questions.
Parental Guidance: low
Max’s mother abandoned him and his father when his was an infant.
The “hidden ones” are refugees escaping the horrors of a foreign country,
Abismo (abyss)
Isadora’s arm was broken by her guardian who was planning on marrying
the older sister when she turned 14.
Recommendation:
As with many books with complicate storylines, this story takes a while to get into, but once all the pieces are clear, this is a compelling tale with many different layers. You can feel Max’s pain in the early pages and relish the opportunity to join him on his quest, taking pride in his courage and compassion. I enjoyed this story and would gladly make it available to any of my students grades 4-8.
As an adult, it is easy to see this story as an allegory about present day immigrants. From my perspective, it is not political in any aspect. It does portray the immigrants and their plight with sympathy, but only asks for understanding and compassion as a response. It could deeply resonate with immigrant children who have made a similar escape.
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