The clear voice of Manuel narrates his powerful story of how, as a 12-year-old, he left his family in Oaxaca, Mexico to join his older brother, Toño. In Beast Rider by Tony Johnston and Maria Elena Fontanot de Rhoads, Toño has gone North to Los Angeles on the freight trains know as the Beast. “The Beast is a network of freight trains that move from southern Mexico to the U.S. border. La Bestia is a deadly way to travel. Getting on and staying on are hard in themselves. Sometimes a rider goes to sleep and falls from the train, to be maimed or killed. … Gangs swarm the tops of train cars looking for victims” (from the Authors’ Note).
Manuel dearly loves Toño. That love sustains him on the perilous journey that takes over three years because of the injuries and hardships he experiences. Along the way, he is cared for by sainted figures, is robbed and is gravely injured when a gang attacks him. “I am broken but unbroken. Bones si, spirit no.” He is tenderly cared for by “Serafina and the many good souls of a dusty village….”
After Manuel heals, he finally makes it to the border, again riding atop the Beast. The journey continues across the Rio Grande with the help of a coyote that his brother pays. In L.A., Manuel lives with Toño as he struggles to find a place for himself and to recover from the trauma of his journey. “Here in this Los Angeles, impossibly enormous place, I am an island.” However, a new relationship opens to Manuel. He and a solemn neighbor, Mr. James Ito, begin to share stories. “Like tears held in for a very long time, out the words come. Pouring pouring. Mine is an ugly tale, apart from the few saints who float in and out.” That telling is healing when he realizes “how much goodness has been woven into [his] story.” Manuel’s story has many layers, each one enriches the understanding of the reader.
Many Spanish-language words enrich the story. Don’t miss the extensive Glossary at the end. Also, the informative Authors’ Note gives important information. Johnston, who lived in Mexico for fifteen years, has a number of other books that enrich and inform the reader’s understanding of the Mexican culture. Don’t miss: Angel City, Day of the Dead, P is for Piñata: A Mexico Alphabet, My Mexico, My Abuelita and the Tale of Rabbit and Coyote. The co-author, de Rhoads, is a native of Mexico.
These other titles will enrich the reader’s understanding of the journey taken by so many people from Mexico and Central America: Pancho Rabbit and the Coyote by Duncan Tonatiuh, and The Only Road by Alexandra Diaz. Finally, Enrique’s Journey by Sonia Nazario who won the Pulitzer Prize for her Los Angeles Times newspaper series that is the basis of the book. -Recommended by Marilyn Carpenter, Professor Emeritus Eastern Washington University
Author: Tony Johnston and Maria Elena Fontanot de Rhoads
ISBN: 9781419733635
Publisher: Amulet Books
PubDate: March 19, 2019
Each month a committee of Worlds of Words advisors recommends a book published within the last year. Our hope is to spark conversations on our website and on social media about the book that expand global understandings and perceptions. Please join us by leaving a comment. You can also share your thoughts with us by using the hashtag #WOWRecommends on social media.
- Themes: Beast Rider, Maria Elena Fontanot de Rhoads, Marilyn Carpenter, Tony Johnston
- Descriptors: WOW Recommends
Marilyn Carpenter, your review of Beast Rider by Tony Johnston and Maria Elena Fontanot de Rhodes was excellent, and very reminiscent of wonderful Meetings with You in Ocean View School District. Your reviews were a wonderful, treasured moment in time for so many of us! I am very interested in Beast Rider and the many other books listed in the “Don’t miss” section for my niece who is now teaching 8th graders, and who says she loves teaching 8th graders! I will pass this review, and the joy of signing up for WOW BOOKS on to her! I loved reading your words! Love, Marion Powell
Hi Iove your article about engaging young people with books and I wondering do you any suggestions of cirriculum of story writing when children write stories based around their engagement with this story as their own story? I am doing research around cirriculum for children using other stories to base their own stories on and would appreciate any guidance on what researchers have done to develop story writing based on others texts from an American perspective to help me thank you This is my first approach to your people.
Hi Kerry! Thank you for the question. I conferred with Kathy Short, and this is what she shared:
Rather than asking children to create their own stories based on similar experiences, it’s more effective to have them consider connections based on emotions. In this case, Beast Rider is about the violence that the character faces in trying to get from Mexico to the U.S., catching a ride on the top of a train, the Beast, that often leads to death. The character faces a situation of great fear and that is what I would suggest that children think about – What is a time of fear for them in their own lives? What gave them hope in that situation? Spend some time in oral conversation to brainstorm ideas before asking them to write their own stories.