Product Description

When falling crop prices threaten his family with starvation, fifteen-year-old Victor Flores heads north in an attempt to "cross the wire" from Mexico into the United States so he can find work and send money home. But with no coyote money to pay the smugglers who sneak illegal workers across the border, Victor must struggle to survive as he jumps trains, stows away on trucks, and hikes grueling miles through the Arizona desert.

Victor's journey is fraught with danger, freezing cold, scorching heat, hunger, and dead ends. It's a gauntlet run by millions attempting to cross the border. Through Victor's often desperate struggle, Will Hobbs brings to life one of the great human dramas of our time.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #9498 in Books
• Published on: 2007-04-01
• Released on: 2007-04-10
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 224 pages

From School Library Journal
Grade 5 Up Ever since his family moved to the tiny village of Los Árboles, Victor has been best friends with Rico. When Rico tells him that he has enough money to pay for a coyote to help him cross into El Norte, Victor is unable to decide if he, too, should go along and look for work or try to feed his family with the pitiful annual corn harvest. The decision is made for him the next day when he discovers that the corn prices have bottomed out and that there is no point in even planting this year. Readers suffer with the 15-year-old as he makes his painful decision to leave his mother and younger siblings and attempts the dangerous border crossing, jumping trains, fleeing thieves and border officials, and suffering from thirst and hunger. His desperation and fear are completely believable as he faces near-death situations and must decide whom to trust. The author deftly weaves information concerning the local geography and customs into the plot. The story is well paced, sustaining readers' attention throughout. Pair this novel with Ann Jaramillo's La Línea (Roaring Brook, 2006) for another fictional view of young people crossing the border between the U.S. and Mexico. Melissa Christy Buron, Epps Island Elementary, Houston, TX
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist
Gr. 5-8. As in Ann Jaramillo's La Linea (2006), Hobbs' latest puts a human face on the controversial issue of illegal immigration. No longer able to grow corn profitably in his Mexican village, 15-year-old Victor, who has supported his family since his father's death, resolves to go to El Norte: "It's time for me to do what men from our village have to do." Lacking the money to secure a guide, he ventures to a border town to wait his chance in the "whirlpool" of recent deportees, newcomers, and grizzled mojados ("wetbacks"). Successive attempts find him trekking through mountains and desert, fleeing la migra, and unwittingly becoming entangled with ruthless drug traffickers. Hobbs' effort to show a broad view of the border-crossing experience, often by incorporating the hard-luck tales of Victor's acquaintances, results in a story arc that occasionally feels artificial. But the questions raised here are provocative and worthwhile ("Are [Americans] willing to pick the fruits and the vegetables to fill their grocery stores?"), and the propulsive adventure-and-survival elements will keep Hobbs' core audience hooked. Jennifer Mattson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review
"Provocative...puts a human face on the controversial issue of illegal immigration." (Booklist )

"Riveting...an exciting story in a vital contemporary setting" (Voice of Youth Advocates (VOYA) )

"A page-turning adventure" (Kirkus Reviews )

"This gritty and realistic tale will be an eye-opener for many YAs" (KLIATT )

Customer Reviews

A Good Read And You Might Learn Something
Once again Will Hobbs has put together a boy's story that leads the reader not only on an adventure but also gives insight into ways of life in which most of us are unfimiliar. Overwhelmed in the knowledge that his mother and little brother will soon end up living on the streets the young lad of Crossing Jordan decides that he must sneak across the American border where there is hope he can make enough money to send home. The adventure is the telling of all the efforts, and failures, the boy must go through to accomplish such a feat.

Mr Hobbs presents a compelling drama that will help young readers understand why so many young Mexican men and boys are willing the risk everything for a better life. Without being preachy he helps the reader understand how some American policies actually force many Mexican farmers into poverty. He presents the risks these people must take. He exposes the corruption of those who offer these poor people a way across the border. Then, when one might expect American border guards to be presented as evil, Mr Hobbs gives us characters who are understanding, yet do a job that they are hired to perform.

Please read this book. Or if you have teenage children, or younger even, have them read it. Not for the sake of taking sides on the immigration issue. But to understand it. To see that there are two sides that need to be seen. CROSSING THE WIRE is one of those books that you read, put it away and figure you'll probably not open it again. BUT, after time it begins to grow on you. You want to read it again.

Loved it
As an author, I was freaking out about how timely this book was, given all the talk of illegal immigration, etc. Then I read it, and was even more impressed. This is a terrific book, far more interesting than a lot of news stories I've read on the topic, from a master of the genre. I fear it won't get the attention it deserves, solely because it's a YA book.

A very realistic book (coming from me)
I have family members that have expierienced this adventure of "crossing the wire". It is not only hard but its also sad, sad because not only are you suffering but you see other people suffer and that ther can get really tough. This book goes in detaial what one person, Victore Flores had to do to cross. Now if whatever happend to him in the story affects you in any way, just think about all the people that are crossing just to see how it is like here, or even to get money for their family. I think they deserve a little simpathy. Overall this book is a great book to read, you'll get addicted i guarantee it.