Land of the Cranes
by Aida Salazar (Author)
From the prolific author of The Moon Within comes the heart-wrenchingly beautiful story in verse of a young Latinx girl who learns to hold on to hope and love even in the darkest of places: a family detention center for migrants and refugees.
Nine-year-old Betita knows she is a crane. Papi has told her the story, even before her family fled to Los Angeles to seek refuge from cartel wars in Mexico. The Aztecs came from a place called Aztlan, what is now the Southwest US, called the land of the cranes. They left Aztlan to establish their great city in the center of the universe-Tenochtitlan, modern-day Mexico City. It was prophesized that their people would one day return to live among the cranes in their promised land. Papi tells Betita that they are cranes that have come home.
Then one day, Betita's beloved father is arrested by Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE) and deported to Mexico. Betita and her pregnant mother are left behind on their own, but soon they too are detained and must learn to survive in a family detention camp outside of Los Angeles. Even in cruel and inhumane conditions, Betita finds heart in her own poetry and in the community she and her mother find in the camp. The voices of her fellow asylum seekers fly above the hatred keeping them caged, but each day threatens to tear them down lower than they ever thought they could be. Will Betita and her family ever be whole again?
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Publishers Weekly
This free-verse novel by Salazar (The Moon Within), set in 2018 and narrated in the perceptive, compassionate voice of fourth grader Betita Quintero, offers a close look at the experiences of an undocumented Mexican-born child and her pregnant mother in a family detention center. Betita lives in modest circumstances in East Los Angeles with her loving, hardworking Mami and Papi, learning from inspiring teacher Ms. Martinez to create daily picture poems "to paint our feelings." The Quinteros' hopes that the sanctuary state will provide safety are dashed with an ICE raid at Papi's work site; when Betita and Mami travel to visit him at the Tijuana border, a missed turn takes them into Mexico and detainment in a "big frozen/ concrete monster," where they huddle with other women and children under Mylar "capes" in chain-link cells, and are mocked by the guards. Betita's faith in the story Papi tells--that one day "our people would return to Aztlán," the land of the cranes, the U.S. Southwest--sustains her as the picture poems she creates become both solace and a source of important documentation. Salazar's lyrical verse fashions empowerment out of indignity and suffering, creating a stirring and accessible, all-too-timely story. Ages 8-12. Agent: Marietta B. Zacker, Gallt & Zacker Literary. (Sept.)
Copyright 2020 Publishers Weekly, LLC Used with permission.Review quotes
* A worthy successor to Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret set in present-day Oakland... Salazar's verse novel is sensitive and fresh... An authentically middle school voice and diverse Latinx cast make this book a standout. — Kirkus Reviews, starred review
* An excellent addition for upper middle grade and middle school readers, especially for maturing tweens in the midst of puberty. — School Library Journal, starred review
This story is told in beautiful poems... A lovely, relatable story...The words really use up the space on the pages in creative ways, and the author reveals cultural aspects of Latinx (especially Xicana) and Caribbean peoples in rich detail. — Booklist
Lyrical...The characters leap to life and eloquently evoke the passion and pain of a girl's coming-of-age. Absolutely beautiful, reverent, and intensely personal, the book would make a valued gift for pre-teen readers, especially a young Latina. — School Library Connection
This is a fascinating tale that blends ancestral traditions from two cultures, while portraying modern dilemmas. Salazar's poetry is as lovely and graceful as the dance scenes. — Margarita Engle, National Young People's Poet Laureate and Newbery Honor-winning author of The Surrender Tree
With conga-pulsed lyrics, Aida Salazar pulls us into the coming of age of eleven year Celi. She initiates readers into the conversation of Bomba, the girl-woman circle, divine twin energies and the many moon-tide powers of a Latina pre-teen. This is a book whose form and content, vision and depth, I find revolutionary and culturally ecstatic. In these times, here is the liberation verse our youth and all have been waiting for-Brava-Bravo! — Juan Felipe Herrera, U.S. Poet Laureate and author of Jabberwalking
Aida Salazar has reached deep into our indigenous past to explore in beautiful, poignant poetry what it means to become a woman at the intersection of community and self. Rooted in ancestral lore yet vibrantly modern, The Moon Within is a touching, powerful, and important novel in verse. — David Bowles, Pura Belpré Honor-winning author of The Smoking Mirror
In a vivid, magical debut, Aida Salazar's lyrical poetry deftly pulls you into Celi's vibrant world as she reluctantly dances towards womanhood, adjusting to the drumbeats of first love and true friendship while exploring her ancestral roots as she finds her role within family and community. - Naheed H. Senzai, award-winning author of Shooting Kabul and Escape from Aleppo
Lovely and amazing...a heartbreaker, in every wonderful way. Salazar's vivid and accessible verse brings us the coming-of-age story we've been longing for. Poignant, funny, and deeply moving, The Moon Within is a story told with an abundance of love and respect-a gift straight from the center of Salazar's heart to readers everywhere. — Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich, author of Eighth-Grade Superzero and coauthor of Naomis Too
JUV011030 - Juvenile Fiction | People & Places | United States - Hispanic & Latino
JUV070000 - Juvenile Fiction | Poetry (see also Stories in Verse)
United States
Families
California
Los Angeles
Novels in verse
Los Angeles (Calif.)
Illegal aliens
Mexicans
Detention of persons
Deportation
