The Only Road & The Crossroads

Title: The Only Road & The Crossroads

Author: Alexandra Diaz

7&8th

Wow! These books rendered me speechless. They are fantastic pieces of literature written about timely topics. First, let’s quickly consider the author. Ms. Diaz’s parents migrated from Cuba. She grew up in a Spanish speaking household and started kindergarten without knowing English. With this history, she approaches these topics with a wonderful perspective.

These books follow two cousins, Angela and Jaime, who are fleeing gang activity in Guatemala. They are threatened by the dominant gang because their brother/cousin, Michael was killed by the gang. Michael refused to join the gang, so the gang punished him by beating him to death. For this reason, Angela and Jaime need to feel their village or face similar consequences. The Only Road talks about their journey from Guatemala to New Mexico. The Crossroads talks about their adjustment to life in New Mexico with their brother Tomas.

These are timely books that are powerfully written. That’s not too say that these books are perfectly clean and free from violence, etc. They are not because of the subject. I’m not sure you could write a book about migration and have it be clean. Ms. Diaz did a fantastic job of writing about the subject without going into inappropriate details. The Crossroads does not talk so much about the violence of the migration journey, however, it has one very slight reference a boy liking a boy. These books are a definite must-read for teens, but I do recommend that they read alongside an adult to encourage discussion about the book.