Description
A stirring and thoughtful nonfiction work in graphic form, going beyond headlines or statistics to provide a powerful individual account of migration.
When Carlos was nineteen years old, his mother decided to leave her life in El Salvador, seeking a new start in the United States. She arranged the services of a coyote for the journey north. Reluctant to leave, but refusing to let his mother go without him, Carlos joined her. During their trip through Mexico, they experienced the risks and the fears countless people from Central American countries face as they migrate toward different lands. Ten years later, Carlos shared these memories with his cousin Ernesto. The result of their conversation is Just Another Story: A Graphic Migration Account.
Review
Just Another Story. The words are simple and we all have a story of our own. And this is the story of one family’s journey for a better life.
This story is told in the present time, when Ernesto flies to America to see his cousin Carlos, who fled El Salvador 10 years earlier with his Mum. The cousins have talked very little about how the journey came about or what it entailed, and decide that this is as good a time as any to do so.
Carlos then recounts their story of the reasons for leaving, and striving for a better life. It is at times confronting and harrowing, as he details the control over them by the people smugglers, the danger that they were in, and the difficult situations they had to encounter to make it to where they are today. And even though life is better, Carlos knows the overwhelming feeling of leaving your homeland behind forever.
This is a powerful graphic novel about the lengths that people will go to for a better life. It is best suited to those 14+.
