Mi diario de aqui hasta alla

My Diary from Here to There: Mi diario de aqui hasta alla
Story/ Cuento: Amanda Irma Perez
Illustrations/Illustraciones: Maya Christina Gonzalez
Copyright: 2002
Pages: 32
Reading Level: 9-12

"Never forget who you are and where you are from. Keep your language and culture alive in your diary and in your heart."
"Que nunca se te olvide quien eres y de donde vienes. manten siempre vivo en tu corazon y en tu diario tu lenguaje y tu cultura"

This book is a true immigration story of Amanda Irma Perez. She and her family immigrated to the United States after her dad found a job here, and got there green cards. The book is wrote in Diary entries, and has both Spanish and English translations. This allows not only people who speak both languages to enjoy the story but learn words from both English and Spanish. The Illustrations in this book are beautiful, done by Maya Christina Gonzalez. Her use of color is brilliant.
The Journey Amanda and her family take is a rough one, but she seems to be the only one affected as she is surrounded by her brothers. Who seem excited to move to America. She is the only one who is scared. They first move to their Grandmothers house, then through several Aunt's home because no one can handle her five brothers. There father eventually gets the Green cards, and they travel to America to meet her father. They hold hand the entire way. And finally reach her father missing a shoe and a hat. Amanda misses Mexico, but learns she can be strong and finds she can still express her culture no matter where she is.

Recommended to: Both Spanish and English reader, I think both can learn a great deal from this book.
Problems: This book shows the difficulty in Immigrating.
My Reaction: I really enjoyed this. In high school I took Spanish, however I remember VERY little. So it was fun reading the Spanish and picking out words I remember, and looking to the English for the words I didn't. This book does an excellent job illuminating the worries someone might face when moving. Especially to a different country.