Journey of Dreams by Marge Pellegino

About the Book:

I hear footsteps on the path and see light approaching. I slip behind the ni’tzja, out of view of the soldier coming with a torch. When I hear him call out, I want to scream, You are too late. This family has escaped you! This is Tomasa’s story of how her family survives the Guatemalan army’s “scorched earth” campaign, and how their love, loyalty to each other and Papa’s storytelling keep them going on their harrowing search for refuge in the United States.

My Opinion:

In Journey of Dreams, Marge Pellegrino writes a heart wrenching story about a Native Guatemalan family that is split apart by the terrible events that happen in their small village and their entire country during the 1980’s.  Although this is not a “true” story, Marge Pellegrino has taken the stories of many children that she worked with in her volunteer work with the Owl & Panther project that helps refugees from other countries to help them get out of war torn places and find their families.  This is a book written from the point of view of Tomasa, a 13 year old Native Guatemalan girl, whose family is torn apart by the military of her country threatening her mother’s life, and threatening to take her oldest brother into the army like many of the other boys in her village.  Then poor Tomasa and the rest of her family have to flee their village and then their country to stay alive.

This is one of those books that will tear at your heart and make you cry as you live through all the horrible things that this poor girl and her family goes through.  As well as all the other heart wrenching stories that are told along their journey of the people they meet.  I cried at many places in this book.  It’s not an easy read, partially because of the content being so dramatic, but also because you’re reading the thoughts and dreams of a young girl who doesn’t write very well.  Sometimes the sentences are extremely disjointed and it makes it very hard to read.  Overall this is a good book and I would recommend it to any adult and any of the more mature young adults.  Though there are many concepts that would be hard for the younger teen to read, I would still recommend it for some.

My rating: 4.0 stars

Product Details

• Reading level: Young Adult
• Author: Marge Pellegrino
• Publisher: Frances Lincoln Children’s Books (August 1, 2009)
• ISBN-10: 1847800610
• ISBN-13: 978-1847800619