To the Other Side

The dangerous journey of leaving home and crossing the border from Mexico to the United States is told in this stunning picture book.

With their mother at the door, the small boy narrator and his older sister are playing a game, so the elder sibling explains. The rules are simple: avoid monsters, don’t get caught and keep moving. The game is won by crossing the line.

The two walk, get rides, catch the bus, traverse a river, travel on a train roof, all the while desperately trying to stay out of the clutches of the ominous monsters, that want to catch them.

As the atmosphere of the journey turns from playful to deadly serious the more perils they face, big sister acknowledges her brother’s fear and feeling of being overwhelmed, telling him ‘you’re brave like a tiger. I’m fast like a rabbit.’

Eventually they reach a wall on which is written between other marks, the words ‘TAMBIEN DE ESTA LADO HAY SUEÑOS’ (Also on this side there are dreams). After a very long wait in line where many other masked children stand, they are allowed to cross the border and eventually the narrator is able to talk of a new friend welcoming them into his home.

This is a heartbreaking but ultimately heartwarming book wherein Erika Meza’s use of pattern and in particular colour – monochrome with jewel-bright flashes of colour and the pinks, oranges and yellows of the children’s masks standing out starkly against the white pages – make the story hugely powerful.

In a note at the end of the book, the author explains that there are around 13 million child refugees in the world, and that every year tens of thousands of children have to leave their homes, sometimes going alone, sometimes with others, to search for a safer place to live and each has a story to tell.

Yes, this particular story is of crossing from Mexico to the U.S. but with more and more asylum-seeking children from various parts of the world being welcomed into homes and schools in the UK, this book is highly relevant here and wherever else there are immigrants.

Strongly recommended for sharing in primary schools to open up discussion.