Solito: A Memoir

"Poet Javier Zamora tells his childhood story of living in a tiny village with his grandparents and cousins, but without his parents – they escaped El Salvador’s crushing civil war to cross into “La USA” (Javi calls it “la oooo-suh”). His parents promise they are saving up to send for him. When they do, Javi leaves his beloved family with the (false) promise that the coyote they’ve paid will look after him. Solito is the story of Javier’s 3,000-mile journey to the U.S. and the people who help him along the way, sometimes at great cost to themselves. It’s all told in a 9-year-old’s voice, in language that is gorgeous and, yes, poetic in its simplicity."