Thirteen-year-old Tomasa’s K’iche’ Indian family live in the highlands of Guatemala, where the government campaign against indigenous peoples is intensifying—and terrifying. After Tomasa’s older brother narrowly escapes conscription, he and her mother—who has publicly criticized the government and growers for toxic spraying in nearby fields—must disappear for their own safety. Shortly after, the village is firebombed. It happens on the very morning Tomasa, her little brother and baby sister, and her father have bid a painful farewell to her grandmother so they, too, can escape. That head start saves their lives in a tense story that follows the journey of Tomasa’s family out of the mountains and north to Mexico. Set in 1984, Marge Pellegrino’s novel gives a sense of those harrowing times in a story grounded in Tomasa’s perspective—full of fear for their lives, longing for her mother and brother, and relief when she and her family find refuge with the Sanctuary Movement. Vivid details, such as clean clothes and the chance to play—pleasures that are lost and tentatively reclaimed—bring this story of refugees running for their lives into full relief. (Ages 10–13)

A thirteen-year-old Mayan girl recounts the harrowing story of her fami ly’s escape from their Guatemalan mountain village in the face of civil war in 1984. Details of village life, the journey across national borders, the power of storytelling, and the resilience of the human spirit are all vividly portrayed. 2010 USBBY Outstanding International Books List, 2009 Judy Goddard Award for Young Adult Literature, Independent Children’s Booksellers 2009 “ABC Best Books for Children,” Kirkus Magazine’s “Best Books of 2009,” 2009 Southwest Books of the Year, 2009 Smithsonian Notable Books for Children, 2010 CCBC Choices, 2010 Chicago Public Library: One Book, One Chicago, 2010 Americas Award Commended List.

This is the story of how one family survives the Guatemalan army's 'scorched earth' campaign in the 1980s and how, in the midst of tragedy, suspicion and fear, their resilient love and loyalty - and Papa's storytelling - keeps them going. On their harrowing journey as refugees to the United States, the dramatic ebb and flow of events are mirrored in the tapestries of one daughter's dreams.