Hear my voice The testimonies of children detained at the southern border of the United States

This compilation, written "by children for children," hauntingly illustrates the trauma endured at border detention centers--specifically at the Clint Border Patrol facility in Texas--and envisions the pilgrimage these children and their families made to pursue safety in the unwelcoming land of American Dreams. In prose accessible to young readers, the book explores the separation, desperation, and disillusionment experienced on these journeys. In two languages--reading in English from one direction and in Spanish from the other direction--it recounts heart-wrenching danger and mistreatment, depicting danger in home countries as a faceless, many-toothed monster reaching out to grab fleeing families, beautiful bird-headed creatures discussing their homelands, and teenage mothers and children parenting other children out of the need for survival. While the anonymity of each child is preserved, their testimonies ring loud and clear on the page, brought to life by 17 different Latinx artists. This collection gives voices and faces to the "children in cages" so often referenced--and yet not discussed enough.

Binford, founder of Project Amplify, assembles the testimonies of 61 migrant children from Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Mexico, ages five to 17, in this hard-hitting, movingly illustrated book that utilizes the talents of 17 Mexican and Mexican American artists to share truths of life in U.S. Border Patrol and detention facilities. In the foreword, Michael Garcia Bochenek of Human Rights Watch states, "This book, a story for children by children, wasn't easy to tell and isn't easy to hear. But it's not only a story of adults' cruelty and neglect... it's also a story of children's strength, courage, and hope." In English and Spanish, the text unfolds simply but meaningfully--with the children's own words, intertwined not as a single, broad narrative but in a harmonious array of voices, each with a unique story to tell. Similarly, no single art style dominates. Contributed by illustrators including Caldecott Honoree Yuyi Morales and Pura Belpré winner Raúl the Third, each illustration--whether fantastical or realistic, bold or delicate, vibrant or muted--powerfully complements the accompanying testimony, underscoring the children's humanity and the individuality of each perspective. This is a heartrending but vital work. Includes a reader's guide. Ages 8--up. (Apr.)■

In Spanish and in English, a devastating first-person account of children's experiences in detention at the southern U.S. border. The nightmare children have faced while separated from their families at the U.S.--Mexico border in recent years is detailed unsparingly via interview snippets from 61 migrant children ages 5 to 17. The words are interpreted by 17 different Latinx illustrators. While some of the artists build fantasy imagery, depicting the children as caged birds or representing escape from a dangerous country as flight from a terrifying monster, the most affecting double-page spreads simply detail the horrifying living conditions and allow expressions on faces to do the rest. Hunger, overcrowding, verbal abuse, and unsanitary conditions are only part of the horrors. "I have been here without bathing for twenty-one days," one child says from behind chain-link fencing. "I wish I could get clean." The Spanish-language version is bound dos-à-dos to the English one, and the children's words are even more painful in their native language. Additional context on how the stories were captured and the legal issues around child detention is provided in a foreword and backmatter; it reinforces the impossible and cruel situation the migrant children have faced and their misplaced hope in a system that has failed them. It's the kind of terrifying book that no adult should hand to a child before preparing to explain, with context, that the stories are true and that they must be remembered. A powerful, critical document only made more heartbreaking in picture-book form. (Picture book. 8-18) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.