enrique's journey mom name

Enrique's Journey

39 pages • 1 hour read

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Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Prologue-Chapter 2

Chapters 3-5

Chapter 6-Epilogue

Key Figures

Index of Terms

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Discussion Questions

Summary and Study Guide

Enrique’s Journey: The Story of a Boy’s Dangerous Odyssey to Reunite with His Mother is a best-selling nonfiction book by Sonia Nazario , an American journalist best known for her work on social justice. Originally published in 2006, the book is based on Nazario’s Pulitzer Prize-winning “Enrique’s Journey” series, which was written in six parts and published in The Los Angeles Times .

The book, which has been published in eight languages and adapted for young adults in English and Spanish, is the product of extensive research. In addition to conducting detailed interviews with Enrique and his relatives, Nazario traveled to Honduras to recreate what Enrique experienced during his passage to the United States. By digging deep into Enrique’s background, Nazario is able to give a compelling account of both a geographical journey and an emotional one, for Enrique’s enduring feelings of resentment, abandonment, and anger prove to be perhaps as challenging as his journey across the border.

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This summary refers to the 2007 edition published by Random House Trade Paperbacks.

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Enrique’s Journey consists of 10 parts: a Prologue, seven chapters, an Afterword, and an Epilogue. In the Prologue, Nazario explains that she wrote the LA Times articles and book after learning that many single mothers in Central America abandon their children to find work in the United States. By publishing Enrique’s story, she aims to bring attention to the plight of migrants.

Chapter 1 focuses on Enrique’s early life. Enrique is only five years old when his mother Lourdes immigrates to the United States, leaving Enrique and his sister Belky in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. The decision to leave is not easy for Lourdes, but she knows she can better provide for her children by working in the US.

Although Lourdes has legitimate reasons for leaving, her absence greatly distresses Enrique. Lourdes never gave Enrique a proper goodbye before leaving, as it was too painful for her. For many years, Enrique wonders about what Lourdes is doing in the US, why she had to leave, and when she will return. As the years drag on, Enrique loses hope that Lourdes will return. Enrique’s father abandons him as well, after remarrying and starting a new life with a new family. Overcome with anger and frustration, Enrique rebels and starts experimenting with drugs, developing an addiction. After he’s caught trying to steal jewelry to fuel his addiction, Enrique decides he must leave Honduras and travel to the US to find his mother. He will be leaving behind his girlfriend María Isabel , who is pregnant, though they don’t realize it until after Enrique’s departure.

Chapter 2 describes Enrique’s seven failed attempts to migrate to the United States, stressing the dangers he encounters along the way. The journey is long and treacherous. To reach the US, Enrique must travel through many regions of Mexico controlled by gangs, where he faces risk of arrest by immigration officers. Perhaps the most harrowing of Enrique’s experiences are those days spent riding atop trains heading toward the US-Mexico border. Hopping across trains is the only hope of avoiding detection by immigration officers or other law enforcement. Those bold enough to travel by such means face the risk of being crushed to death if the trail derails or if they fall off its side.

Chapters 3 and 4 address Enrique’s successful trip north. The former focuses on his time in Chiapas, Mexico, while the latter describes his encounters with kind strangers in Veracruz. Chapter 5 centers on Enrique’s experiences in Nuevo Laredo on the US-Mexico border. Chapter 6 describes Enrique crossing the Rio Grande into the United States with the help of a coyote . In Chapter 7, Enrique arrives North Carolina, where he and Lourdes reunite. However, the reunion does not live up to Enrique’s expectations, and he relapses. Having left his pregnant girlfriend in Honduras, Enrique must now earn money to send back to her. As his relationship with Lourdes deteriorates, Enrique must overcome his feelings of disappointment to fulfill his familial obligations. After a while, María Isabel secures passage across the border, leaving her and Enrique’s daughter Jasmín behind in Honduras, echoing the situation at the beginning of the story.

In the Afterword, Nazario outlines the two sides of the immigration debate and presents foreign aid as a primary solution to the problem of illegal immigration. The Epilogue, which describes María Isabel’s journey north, describes the cyclical nature of child abandonment.

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Enrique's Journey

By sonia nazario, enrique's journey summary and analysis of the boy left behind.

Lourdes has decided to leave Tegucigalpa, Honduras for the United States. She is frightened for her son, five-year old Enrique , but she does not hug him or say a word as he clutches her pant leg. She cannot take his picture with her because it will break her resolve, and Lourdes knows she must leave if she is to earn a decent wage with which to create a better life for herself and her children.

In Tegucigalpa, Lourdes can barely afford food and clothing for her two children, Enrique and his seven-year old sister, Belky . Lourdes is a single mother at twenty-four years old. She washes other people’s clothes in the river for money, and sells tortillas, used clothing, and plantains. Next to the Pizza Hut in downtown Tegucigalpa, she squats at the side of the road to sells gum, crackers, and cigarettes. Her future is bleak, and she knows she cannot afford to send her children to school past the third grade.

When she was seven years old, Lourdes saw images of New York City, Las Vegas, and Disneyland on the televisions at other people’s houses. The dream of living in America, so far from a two room shack made of wooden slates with no bathroom, is thrilling for her.

Like many other women of similar circumstances, she decides to embark on the dangerous journey north, to find work in the United States so that she might send the money to her children. She plans to leave for one year, and then to return home. She has asked her sister, Rosa Amalia , to care for Belky while she is gone, and expects Enrique's father to take care of him. Lourdes does not say goodbye to Enrique - it is too hard for her. Instead, she tells him something he will always remember: “Don’t forget to go to church this afternoon” (5). It is January 29, 1989, and Lourdes never returns.

The separation between mother and son dictates Enrique’s future. He will eventually set out after her, and become one of 48,000 children from Mexico or Central America who enter the U.S. illegally. Nazario details this phenomenon. Most children who travel north are looking for their mothers, while others seek work or are escaping abusive homes. Half of them travel with smugglers, and the rest go alone. Hunted like animals by gangs, bandits, and corrupt police, the children are often robbed, beaten, and raped several times. Some are killed. Setting out with little money and often only a tentative idea of where their mothers live, the children cling to the tops of freight trains. To avoid the Mexican and U.S. authorities, they jump from moving trains, and sometimes fall into the wheels.

Though fifteen is the average age for migrants, children as young as seven travel alone, using only their wits and determination to guide them. Their mothers often leave when they are young, and these migrants begin to idealize them, believing their mothers to be larger than life. “Finding them becomes the quest for the Holy Grail” (7).

Lourdes travels with a smuggler, and crosses into the United States during of the largest immigrant waves in U.S. history. She enters the country at night through a sewage tunnel, and makes her way into Los Angeles. Her plan is to go to Miami, but her smuggler abandons her at a Greyhound bus station. She waits three days for him to return, but hunger and desperation drive her to find a job at a factory. There, she sorts tomatoes for $14.00 a day. Eventually, she locates a friend of her brother in Los Angeles who helps her obtain a counterfeit Social Security card and a job. Working as a live-in nanny, she moves into a Beverly Hills home to care for a three year old who reminds of her Enrique. Her employers pay her $125 a week, and Lourdes is able to send money, clothes, and toys to her children in Honduras.

Back in Honduras, Enrique asks after his mother everyday, but she does not return. His father remarries and moves out to start a new family. Enrique is left in the care of his paternal grandmother, María Marcos, and eventually grows to hate his father. Belky is living with Rosa Amalia in a nicer part of town, and is able to attend school thanks to the money Lourdes sends. Although she loves the clothing and stuffed animals her mother has given to her, she is deeply distraught by her mother’s absence and finds comfort in befriending other young girls whose mothers have left.

The home Enrique shares with María Marcos is considerably less refined than that of Rosa Amalia. It is a four room hut built from wooden slates, with minimal electricity. There is no running water; the bathroom is a hole in the ground next to two large buckets used for bathing. Lourdes sends $50-$100 a month, but it is not enough for school supplies. Both Enrique and his grandmother work - she sells used clothing, and he sells tamales, spices, and plastic bags filled with juice.

Enrique makes a Mother’s Day card for his grandmother, and rarely speak to Lourdes anymore. They do not have a phone, and he can only speak to her when she calls their cousin’s home, but he is often not close enough to fetch when she calls. One year, Lourdes does not call at all.

Lourdes is struggling with her life in the U.S., and finds that the television images she once saw do not reflect reality. She now shares an apartment with three other women, and sleeps on the floor. An old boyfriend from Honduras, Santos , moves in with her and she unintentionally gets pregnant. Now working in a fish factory, Lourdes struggles through the pregnancy and a difficult relationship with her boyfriend. Santos does not take her to the hospital when she goes into labor; instead, he spends the night at a bar. She gives birth their daughter, Diana , and is only allowed to stay at the hospital for two days.

Two months after Diana’s birth, Lourdes is fired from her job at the factory. She gets a new job at a pizzeria and bar. One night, Santos punches her in the chest because he is jealous of her friendship with one of her male coworkers. A year later, Santos returns to Honduras with their savings of several thousand dollars to make investments. He squanders the money on a drinking binge and on a fifteen year old girl.

Santos does not return and, within two months, Lourdes is forced to give up her apartment and car. She rents a garage for $300 a month, where she and Diana share a mattress on the floor. The garage roof leaks, and slugs crawl onto their mattress. Diana grows ill, but Lourdes cannot afford medicine.

Lourdes becomes a fichera , a type of prostitute who gets bar patrons to spend money on drinks. Nine months later, she finds work cleaning offices and houses by day, and work at a gas station by night. She works ten hour shifts, and then picks up Diana from school and drops her off at a babysitter’s house. Lourdes sleeps one or two hours, then returns to work until two o’clock in the morning. She takes side jobs, working at a candy factory for $2.25 an hour. Lourdes is able to send money to Enrique and Belky again.

Furious about the new baby, Belky withdraws emotionally from her mother. When he can talk to her on the phone, Enrique continues to ask when she will return home. Around this time, Enrique has the idea to travel north in search of her. Meanwhile, Lourdes wants to become an American citizen and legally bring her children to the country. Unfortunately, she spends $3,850 on fraudulent storefront immigration counselors who steal her money.

One year, Lourdes promises to come home by Christmas. Enrique waits by the front door for her, but she never arrives. He asks his grandmother how Lourdes got to the United States and she replies “maybe…she went on the trains” (19).

Lourdes is afraid that returning to Honduras will prohibit her from ever returning to the U.S. She fears the smugglers (called coyotes) who are often alcoholics or drug addicts. Lourdes knows all too well of the dangers. One of her friends had paid a smuggler to bring her sister to Long Beach, California. In Mexico, the sister and others were put in a overloaded boat which capsized and killed most of them. They were buried in a shallow grave on the beach.

Children face particular danger if entrusted to smugglers. They are often abandoned and left to the care of the foster homes in Mexico or the United States. Pictures of these children are broadcast over the television in the hopes that someone will recognize them and bring them home again. Smugglers charge up to $3,000 per child, and sometimes as high as $6,000. To bring a child over by commercial air costs $10,000, and Lourdes does not have enough money to send for even one of her children.

In Honduras, Enrique begins to rebel. He hits other children and is suspended from school three times, though he does eventually complete elementary school. Now fourteen years old, he spends most of his time on the streets of Carrizal, playing soccer and refusing to sell spices. His grandmother beats him with a belt, but Enrique continues to misbehave. Upset but determined, Marìa Marcos asks Lourdes by letter to find Enrique a new home, since she is too old to take care of a rebellious youth. Lourdes arranges for Enrique to stay with her brother, Marco . Enrique likes the new arrangement and developments a strong relationship with his uncle.

A year passes, and Lourdes moves to North Carolina to work as a waitress in a Mexican restaurant. Away from the big city, she can save more money to hopefully bring her children to the U.S. She meets a house painter from Honduras, and they soon fall in love.

Enrique begins working for his uncle, washing cars and changing money on the Honduran border. Tragically, Marco and his brother Victor are killed during an exchange. To pay for their funerals, Lourdes sends all of the money she had saved to bring her children to America. Within days of Marco’s funeral, Enrique is forced out on the streets by his uncle’s girlfriend, who has no use for him.

Enrique next stays with his maternal grandmother, who shares her house with two of his aunts and four of his cousins. Enrique descends into a deep depression, and becomes introverted. He misses Marco terribly, and drops out of school. He begins to sniff glue, until his grandmother throws him out of the house. He is forced to live in a stone hut on their property; it has no electricity.

Soon after Marco’s funeral, Enrique meets and falls in love with María Isabel, who has also been shuffled from home to home during her youth. Enrique wants to have a child with María Isabel, so that they can start a family together and he will therefore never feel alone or abandoned again. Regrettably, Enrique develops a worse drug habit, sniffing glue from baby jars and smoking marijuana. His family tries to intervene, but he continues to spiral out of control. Enrique begins to hallucinate - he does not recognize his family, and once tries to throw himself off a hill. The family chooses not to tell Lourdes of his condition.

On his sixteenth birthday, Enrique makes his first attempt to ride atop the trains. He and his friend Jóse leave Honduras on a bus headed to Guatemala, which is near the Mexican border. They eventually cross into Mexico and board a freight train, but are robbed by police officers and then arrested. They are released, and then board another train. For the first time, Enrique jumps from car to car on the slow-moving train. He slips and falls, but luckily lands onto a padded surface. They are caught near Tierra Blanca in Veracruz, and again deported. He and Jóse sell coconuts for bus fare, and then return home.

Enrique sinks deeper into drugs, until he owes 6,000 lempiras (about $400) to his dealer. He does not have the money. The dealer threatens to kill his cousin if Enrique does not pay up. In desperation, Enrique steals jewelry from his Rosa Amalia, who then reports him to the police. When confronted, Enrique claims he was too high to know what he was doing, and warns the family that his cousin is in danger. Enrique's uncle then gets him a job at a tire store, where he earns $15 a week. Despite the pleas of both his family and Marìa Isabel , Enrique continues to use drugs. One day, he gets into a heated argument with his aunt, and hits her in the buttocks. His grandmother kicks him off of her property.

Marìa Isabel is urged to leave Enrique, but she loves him and thinks she is pregnant with his child. Enrique believes the only person who can help him is his mother, but he has no money for a smuggler, and he dreads leaving Marìa Isabel behind. Nevertheless, Enrique finally sells his belongings and says goodbye to his family and girlfriend. On March 2, 2000, with only $57, a change of clothes, and his mother's phone number written on a scrap of paper and inside of the waistband of his jeans, Enrique sets out for the United States.

Enrique’s Journey opens with a photo of a young Enrique looking sadly into the camera while wearing his kindergarten graduation gown and hat. His expression is somber, which sets the tone for the first few sections of the book, in which a young Enrique adjusts to life without his mother. It also implicitly establishes one of Nazario's main purposes: to consider how a child copes with harsh realities, of both poverty and perceived abandonment.

The chapter The Boy Left Behind includes many of the book's central themes - abandonment, family, and love. Lourdes has made the fateful decision to go to the United States to seek work so that she might send money, food, and clothing back to her two young children in Honduras. However, this decision has a myriad of consequences. What Nazario is most interested in here are the emotional consequences. Both Lourdes and the children must combat feelings of guilt and shame because of what poverty has led her to do. The book is powerful partly because it neither judges nor justifies Lourdes. Both potential decisions - to leave or to stay - can lead to terrible and heartbreaking consequences. Nazario is content to explore the issue, and to present both sides of the argument, and how each impacts family, love, and feelings of abandonment.

Enrique is established here as a protagonist, which is interesting considering that the book is primarily a work of journalism rather than fiction. However, it is an effective choice to set him up as a character with a clearly established goal. It creates a dramatic momentum summarized in the final question of the prologue, and which leads a reader to root for him as he undertakes this journey. While Nazario's book is based on reality and documented interviews, she nevertheless structures it with a dramatic shape - the character is put into a difficult situation in this opening chapter, and he decides to undertake a journey to improve his life.

The imagery in this chapter is striking. Lourdes's poverty is drawn with a myriad of specific details - for instance, at one point she sits next to a Pizza Hut, an American food chain, while Enrique rides a broomstick, pretending it’s a donkey. Marìa Marco’s home, a shack of wooden slats that she built herself, with no running water and little electricity, exemplifies not only the theme of poverty, but its visceral nature. Nazario's strength as a journalist serves her well as she establishes the reality of the challenges these families face.

Ironically, Lourdes's commitment to family produces a disintegration of the family. It is more than just her absence. Enrique's father leaves him to start another family, and both Enrique and Belky must confront their feelings of abandonment. Whereas Belky is able to compartmentalize and turn emotionally from her mother, Enrique seems to idealize her even as his emotional scars lead him to bad, harmful behavior. His disrepect towards the family that takes care of him only emphasizes how Lourdes's attempt to be a strong mother have in some ways hurt her son.

Nazario also explores the irony of the American promise. Symbols of the American dream - Disneyland’s magic castle, the lights of Los Vegas, the size of New York City - flutter in the background of Lourdes’s mind as she travels to the United States. The reality she faces is markedly different. Los Angeles is full of cruelty and poverty, all of which bite particularly hard since they are forced reminders of what she has left behind. And yet she is able to make money by embracing these aspects of American society. Again, Nazario makes no easy attacks, but is content to explore the irony of both sides.

The details on smugglers are particularly intriguing. Firstly, they are clearly expensive, a particular challenge considering their customers tend to be poverty stricken. Secondly, smugglers, especially those who traffic in children, are notoriously cruel, according to the United States Border Patrol. Smugglers, who often drink or use drugs on the journey, have been known to rape their charges, to leave them in the desert, at bus stations, or at the first sign of danger. Children who are abandoned by their smugglers now face the world alone; some die of exposure while others, luckily, are picked up by immigration officials and are taken to shelters. Although not an ideal situation, they are at leat safe.

Enrique's rebellion towards the end of the section provides the most in-depth manifestation of the abandonment theme. He is not only rebellious, but also mean. He makes a teacher cry, and hits other children. When he finally does turn inward, he is cruel to himself through his glue-sniffing. This behavior isolates him from others, and leaves him feeling that nobody loves him. His only possible reprieve is the mother he had idealized, the mother who the reader knows faces her own challenges. Though he leaves his girlfriend - who he believes might be pregnant with his child - it is clear that staying in Honduras will likely mean his end, whether by arrest or death. His journey has begun.

Enrique’s Journey Questions and Answers

The Question and Answer section for Enrique’s Journey is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel.

WHAT IS ENRIQUE FORCCED TO DO UPON RINALY REACHING THE AMERICAN SIDE OF THE RIO GRANDE

In order to remain undetected, Enrique and the others must wait for an hour in a half in a freezing creek into which a sewage treatment plant dumps refuse.

Why is crossing the river so difficult?

For Enrique, crossing the river by himself is dangerous. He cannot swim and if he's caught, he will be deported.

They are put in detention centers and sent back. The detention centers ar cramped full of crooks and people that exploit them.

Study Guide for Enrique’s Journey

Enrique's Journey study guide contains a biography of Sonia Nazario, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

• About Enrique's Journey
• Enrique's Journey Summary
• Character List

Essays for Enrique’s Journey

Enrique's Journey essays are academic essays for citation. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of Enrique's Journey by Sonia Nazario.

• Criticism, Sympathy, and Encouragement: Depicting the American Dream in 'The Great Gatsby' and 'Enrique's Journey'

Lesson Plan for Enrique’s Journey

• About the Author
• Study Objectives
• Common Core Standards
• Introduction to Enrique's Journey
• Relationship to Other Books
• Bringing in Technology
• Notes to the Teacher
• Related Links
• Enrique's Journey Bibliography

Wikipedia Entries for Enrique’s Journey

• Introduction
• Don Francisco Presenta Reunion
• Recognition
• Sonia Nazario

Class of 2027: Enrique's Journey

At age 16, Enrique begins the long, difficult, and perilous journey from Honduras to the United States to reunite with his mother. In reading his story together, we focus on universal themes of struggle, resilience, and refuge, as well as the complex issues surrounding immigration.

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• About the Book

Enrique is only 5 years old when his mother, Lourdes, leaves him and his sister, Belky, behind in Honduras so that she can go work in America. Lourdes promises only to stay until she can send for her children or return with enough money to support them, but each year setbacks prevent her from being with her children again. Enrique desperately misses his mother and believes that only she can understand and support him. After difficult stays with other relatives, Enrique sets out to find his mother. He is 16 years old when he makes the first of seven failed attempts to get through Mexico in the hopes of crossing the border into the United States. Along the way, he encounters gangs and bandits, but learns new survival skills that help him when he successfully crosses the border on his eighth try. Enrique is reunited with his mother in North Carolina, but the years apart have been tough. How Enrique envisions his mother and the reality he finds are very different.

An Epilogue recounts many interviews that the author conducted with Enrique, Lourdes and their family in Honduras since Enrique’s Journey was initially published in 2006. It reveals Enrique’s battle with drug addiction, his fractured relationship with his mother, and his struggles to be a husband and father in an environment that is often hostile to illegal immigrants. In many ways, Enrique is emblematic of many of his countrymen who came to the United States illegally. Finally, the epilogue poses questions and offers solutions to address the socio-economic issues raised by Enrique’s story.

More than 60 universities, 50 high schools, and 10 cities have selected Enrique’s Journey as a common or one-city read.” (source: Penguin Random House: “Enrique’s Journey Teacher’s Guide ”)

• Frequently Asked Questions

Can I keep my book?

• Unfortunately, no. All One Book, One Helix books belong to Helix Charter High School. You will be required to return your book on the designated return day.

Can I write in my book?

• No, you may not. Because these books belong to Helix and we would like to use them again, please do not write in your book. If you want to take notes, highlight quotes, or use other active reading strategies, please use sticky notes, index cards, or other non-permanent devices to do so.

Why was this book chosen?

• We chose Enrique's Journey as the as the Summer 2023 selection because of its themes of resilience and refuge, which are motifs all freshmen will study in English, Social Studies, and Helix First classes. Based on the author’s Pulitzer Prize winning series in the Los Angeles Times , the adult version of the book was the first One Book, One San Diego selection in 2007. The Young Adult version, which our students will read, was published in 2014.

Will I be graded on Enrique's Journey ?

• Yes. Freshmen classes will include assignments, quizzes, and tasks for students to complete, with the assumption that all students have read Enrique’s Journey . These tasks will start the first week of school with a short quiz in your Helix First class. Your summer assignment will be due on Thursday, August 17th.

In which classes will I be expected to show my understanding of Enrique's Journey ?

• Helix First, Introduction to Social Studies, AP Human Geography, and Freshman English have all worked together to create curriculum and assignments specific to the One Book, One Helix text.

I am confused about an assignment or the book itself. Where can I ask questions?

• Please refer any questions to Christina Potter ( [email protected] ) or Aleen Jendian ( [email protected] ).

Can I read the book online or find my own copy?

• Of course you can! We encourage all students and parents to read the book in any form or medium they are comfortable with. Please know that you are still responsible for the hard copy the school has loaned you, and will be expected to return it in good condition.

What if I have lost my copy of the Enrique's Journey book?

• Please contact the school librarian, Christina Potter ( [email protected] ) in the case of a missing or lost book.

Where can I find more about Enrique and his Family? 

• There are additional resources here

I want to talk to others about Enrique's story. Will there be an opportunity to share my opinions and perspective?

• There will be multiple opportunities throughout the year to discuss the specific and general themes addressed in Enrique’s Journey . Please listen for announcements about these opportunities.
• Checks for Understanding

The following questions are to help you think about some of the central ideas & questions raised in the book. While you do not have to formally respond to these questions, you might find them helpful “guides” as you read through the text. And, some of these questions are ones that will be addressed in your classes.

1. Enrique’s Journey is a work of nonfiction. What sparked the idea for the book? One of the goals of any type of research is to deepen an understanding of the issue. How does Nazario set out to accomplish this goal? 

2. What does the United States offer Latin American immigrants that they cannot get in their own countries? Contrast the images of the United States that Lourdes and Enrique see on television versus what each finds in the United States.

3. Compare and contrast Enrique and Belky’s lives after their mother leaves. What negative habits does Enrique develop in his mother’s absence? How is his father partly responsible?

4. Describe the guilt that Lourdes feels when she leaves her children. Why does she kiss Belky good-bye, but find it too hard to face Enrique? How does she attempt to rectify her guilt when she gets to the states?

5. Cite evidence that Aunt Rosa Amalia is correct that the separation from their mother has caused Enrique and Belky deep emotional wounds. How do these problems continue to haunt Enrique after he is reunited with his mother?

6. What do the migrants mean when they say of Chiapas, “Now we face the beast” (p. 61)? What is the “beast”? How does Enrique endure his encounter with the “beast”? Debate whether Enrique is surprised by the brutal attacks on migrants.

7. Describe the gangs aboard the trains. What is Enrique’s attitude toward the gangs? How is his view of El Brujo different from other gang members? Why does their friendship end?

8. Latino immigrants come to the United States with hope for a better life. Why is their hope fragile? How do Padre Leo and Olga work to restore dignity to migrants, and give them hope? How do the “coyotes” take advantage of the migrants’ hopes and dreams.

9. What is the significance of the statue of Jesus that Enrique encounters? How does his journey change after this encounter?

10. Describe Enrique’s relationship with María Isabel. Why does she find it difficult to forget Enrique despite his flaws? How does she call upon her religion to get through her darkest moments with Enrique? What is Enrique’s reaction when he finds that he has a daughter? What conflicts arise between María Isabel and Enrique’s family?

11. What is Enrique’s relationship with Diana, his half-sister? How is her life more stable than his? 

12. How does Enrique become the “most famous undocumented immigrant in America”? How might his story be a lesson about the perils of drug use and addiction? What chance do his children have for a better life?

13.  What motivates Enrique to stay in the United States? What things make him wish to return to Honduras?

14. Enrique continues his struggle with drug addiction, and suffers from depression. How does he blame his mother for his troubles? Explain what María Isabel learns from Lourdes about dealing with Enrique. Discuss why Lourdes tells María Isabel, “We have to cut him loose” (p. 257) 

15. The purpose of an Epilogue in a book is to add interesting developments since the book was written. What new information has Nazario revealed about Enrique and his family? 

(source: Penguin Random House: “Enrique’s Journey Teacher’s Guide ”)

• Summer Assignment

Creative Response to Enrique’s Journey . Due Thursday, August 17th in your Helix First class.

Choose an activity from the options below. The guidelines for each activity are intentionally “loose” in order to encourage creativity and individual expression. While we expect that you will challenge yourself and do your best work, we’re less concerned with page length, word count, and formatting, and more interested in a thoughtful, reflective response to the book.

Use your imagination. Be creative. And allow the power of Enrique's story to inspire you.

Your responses may be typed or handwritten.

Every freshman is expected to complete ONE activity from the list below:

6 - 10 JOURNAL ENTRIES

Using what you’ve learned from the book, and your imagination, write several journal entries from the perspective of one of the book’s characters. Each entry should be a reflection on an event / issue that occurred, that day, in the character’s life. Be sure to include the name of the character from whose perspective you’ve chosen to write.

NEWSPAPER ARTICLE:

Imagine a judge orders Enrique to be deported. Write a newspaper article or editorial for a newspaper that takes Enrique’s side to stay in America or the judge’s decision to deport him. Support your opinion usings facts from the book.

CREATE A 3-D SCENE:

Choose an important scene, or setting, from the story and create a model of that scene using clay, a shoebox, balsa wood, or other materials of your choice.

LETTER TO ENRIQUE, THE AUTHOR, ENRIQUE’s MOTHER, or a POLITICIAN:

Write a letter to Enrique, the author, Enrique’s mother, or a politician that includes the following:

Your reaction to her story / what her story means to you

What you felt was the most powerful message in her book and why

Questions you’d like to ask about the story or issues revolving around the story

GRAPHIC NOVEL / COMIC :

Create your own graphic novel / comic book adaptation of Enrique’s Journey . Choose the major events of the book and create an “abridged” graphic novel version, OR choose a major scene / event and illustrate it in graphic novel format.

VIDEO BOOK TRAILER:

Create a “book trailer” (similar to a movie trailer) that promotes the book Enrique’s Journey . Use live actors, puppets, stop-motion, or a “slide show” format...or use a free tool like PowToons or GoAnimate to create an animated trailer. Upload your finished video to YouTube.

Create a timeline outlining major events of the book and their significance. The timeline should have at LEAST 10 events and include photos, drawings, clipart, or other graphics that help illustrate the events you choose to include.

DRAWING / PAINTING OR POSTER:

Create a drawing, painting, or poster inspired by the book. This could be a scene from the book, a thematic response, or something else that sparks your creativity.

TRACE YOUR OWN FAMILY’S JOURNEY TO THE U.S. :

If appropriate, reflect on your own experiences as an immigrant, or talk to your family members to find out more about when, why, and how your family came to the U.S. Write a brief history of your family’s journey, reflecting on the following questions:

1) Where did your family originate?

2) When did you or your descendents come to the United States?

3) How and why did your family come to this country?

4) What were some of the challenges you / your family members faced?

BROCHURE: 

Make and illustrate a brochure to aid newcomers to your community (this can be created on a computer or paper). Include information such as:

1) where to go for health care

2) how to register children for school

3) where to find free activities for children

4) where to find affordable places to shop for food, children’s clothing, toys, etc.

5) how to find legal aid

6) where to find religious organizations that conduct services in other languages

Remember that many immigrants don’t speak English. You may wish to use symbols, images, and very few words to describe the information in the brochure.

YOUR CHOICE

Create a project of your choice. Please email [email protected] or [email protected] for approval before you start your idea.

Example projects:

Questions about the summer assignment? Please contact:

• Aleen Jendian (English Department Chair):  [email protected]
• Christina Potter (Librarian):  [email protected]
• Additional Resources

We have listed links to videos, articles, and blogs to help you better understand the book.

You will also find volunteer opportunities to help our own community.

Business Insider article: "Hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants ride Mexico's 'train of death' every year to get to America"

CBS News photo series: "Child Immigration Crisis"

Pew Research Center:  "Five Facts about Honduras and Immigration" .

Los Angeles Times : "Enrique’s Journey: a Six-Part Times Series"

Other Resources

Sonia Nazario’s Author Page

Updates on Enrique and his Family

Media Stories About Immigrant Children

Q and A with the Author

• Crisis Support

While we are reading to focus on universal themes and complex issues, we are highly aware that each reader comes to this story with their own very personal histories. If your experience has included some of the violence depicted in this story, you may find some sections of this book to be particularly difficult to read. If you encounter a section that triggers some past experiences or memories, know that you are not alone. Here are some ideas to help you through.

• Breathe. Remember that you are safe.  Yes, you breathe all the time, but let’s slow it down for a few minutes.  Here are some recordings you can use:
• http://youth.anxietybc.com/calm-breathing
• If you find that you can’t continue reading, take a break .
• Go for a walk with a friend, talk with a trusted adult, work on a different task.  
• If you find that this is continuing to bring up difficult and painful memories, here are some places to get support this summer:
• Talk with a trusted adult.
• Call the Youth Crisis Line (24/7) 1-800-843-5200 or the SD Access and Crisis Line (888) 724-7240 or http://up2sd.org/hotline/ (live chat is also available)
• Check with your doctor or health insurance provider for referrals to local therapists.
• If you already have had a therapist or counselor in the past, reconnect with them if that feels right.
• If you are already actively experiencing mental health symptoms related to trauma prior to starting this book, and this book is triggering your symptoms, please continue to see your mental health provider.

Once you are here at Helix, if you need support regarding personal/social issues or mental health please visit us at the Wellness Center. We are able to meet with you to individually and in groups, and have access to resources to help with the variety of challenges our students and families face. We have walked with hundreds of students on their journeys towards wellness and success and we are here for you, too. All are welcome.

• Description
• Don Francisco Presenta
• Update on the Family
• María Isabel
• Young Adult Version
• Spanish Version
• Spanish Language Reviews
• Praise for Enrique’s Journey
• Reviews of Enrique’s Journey
• Articles about Author
• Articles by Author
• TV Interviews
• Radio Interviews
• Speech Videos
• Upcoming Events
• Past Events
• Speech Topics
• High School
• Middle School
• Enrique’s Journey Common Reads
• Counseling Guides
• How to Help Immigrant Students
• Work By & For Students
• Recommended Movies & Documentaries
• Journalism Instruction
• Interview with Facing History and Ourselves
• Questions for Discussion
• Media Coverage: Children and the Journey North
• Art Inspired by the Book
• Theatrical Play
• Photos of People Who Help
• Photos of Injured Migrants
• Get Involved
• Refugees at our Door
• Kids in Need of Defense [KIND]
• Hope for Honduras
• Esperanza para Honduras

Enrique’s Journey recounts the unforgettable quest of a Honduran boy looking for his mother, eleven years after she is forced to leave her starving family to find work in the United States. Braving unimaginable peril, often clinging to the sides and tops of freight trains, Enrique travels through hostile worlds full of thugs, bandits, and corrupt cops. But he pushes forward, relying on his wit, courage, hope, and the kindness of strangers. As Isabel Allende writes: “This is a twenty-first-century Odyssey. If you are going to read only one nonfiction book this year, it has to be this one.” Now updated with a new Epilogue and Afterword, photos of Enrique and his family, an author interview and more, this is a classic of contemporary America.

National Bestseller

Named one of the best books of the year by the  washington post ,  san francisco chronicle ,  miami herald , and  san antonio express-news., named the best non-fiction book of 2014 by  the latino author ., among the most chosen books as a  freshman or common read:  nearly 100 universities, more than 20 cities and scores of high schools nationwide have adopted  enrique’s journey  as a their freshman or common read. middle schools are now using a version adapted for young readers as their common read., published in august 2013: a new version of  enrique’s journey   adapted for young readers  for the 7 th  grade on up and for reluctant readers in high school and geared to new common core standards in schools. the young adult version was published in spanish in july 2015. new york city has made the ya edition part of its classroom curriculum., published in february 2014: a  revised and updated   enrique’s journey , with a new epilogue and photos., published in eight languages., recent updates.

“What Part of Illegal Don’t You Understand?” My Family’s Refugee Story Shows We Can Have an Immigration Policy that is Both Sane and Humane

My Family’s Refugee…

IT’S MONDAY: TIME…

Recent Appearances

Sonia’s tedx: solving illegal immigration [for real ], a journey towards hope – sonia speaks at kids in need of defense (kind) virtual event, buy enrique’s journey.

Enrique’s Journey

Sonia nazario, ask litcharts ai: the answer to your questions.

"I was stuck by the choice mothers face when they leave their children. How do they make such an impossible decision? Among Latinos, where family is all-important, where for women motherhood is valued far above all else, why are droves of mothers leaving their children? What would I do if I were in their shoes?"

"Then I began to retrace his steps, doing the journey exactly as he had done it a few weeks before. I wanted to see and experience things as he had with the hope of describing them more fully."

"Although I often felt exhausted and miserable, I knew I was experiencing only an iota of what migrant children go through...The journey gave me a glimmer of how hard this is for them."

"[Enrique] will remember only one thing that she says to him: 'Don't forget to go to church this afternoon'."

"In their absence, these mothers become larger than life. Although in the United States the women struggle to pay rent and eat, in the imaginations of their children back home they become deliverance itself, the answer to every problem. Finding them becomes the quest for the Holy Grail."

"This had been his first home, the small stucco house where he and Lourdes lived until Lourdes stepped off the front porch and left. His second home was the wooden shack where he and his father lived with his father's mother, until his father found a new wife and left. His third home was the comfortable house where he lived with his uncle Marco."

"When Enrique's mother left, he was a child. Six months ago, the first time he set out to find her, he was still a callow kid. Now he is a veteran of a perilous pilgrimage by children, many of whom come looking for their mothers and travel any way they can."

"In spite of everything, Enrique has failed again--he will not reach the United States this time, either. He tells himself over and over that he'll just have to try again."

"Nearly one in six migrant girls detained by authorities in Texas says she has been sexually assaulted during her journey, according to a 1997 University of Houston study."

"At the rate of nearly one every other day, the Red Cross estimates, U.S.-bound Central American migrants who ride freight trains lose arms, legs, hands, or feet."

"'No one tells me something can’t be done. Everything can be cured. Nothing is impossible.'"

"He was five years old when his mother left him. Now he is almost another person. In the window glass, he sees a battered young man, scrawny and disfigured. It angers him, and it steels his determination to push northward."

"It's wrong for our government to send people back to Central America. If we don't want to be stopped from going into the United States, how can we stop Central Americans in our country?"

"'We are human. We should treat people in a humane way. It's okay to send people back. But they shouldn't shoot them, beat them this way.'"

"Somewhere over there lives his mother. She has become a mystery, too. He was so young when she left that he can barely remember what she looks like: curly hair, eyes like chocolate. Her voice is a distant sound on the phone."

"Outside the church after dinner, many migrants engage in a crude kind of street therapy: Who has endured the worst riding the trains?"

"His mother is a stranger...But he can feel her love."

"Children like Enrique dream of finding their mothers and living happily ever after. For weeks, perhaps months, these children and their mothers cling to romanticized notions of how they should feel toward each other. Then reality intrudes."

"'It's like a miracle,' [Lourdes] says. It is as if all the hurt he felt inside had to come out and now he is ready to move on."

"Maria Isabel does not say goodbye to her daughter. She does not hug her. She gets out of the car and walks briskly into the bus terminal. She does not look back. She never tells her she is going to the United States."

"'What would it take to keep people from leaving? There would have to be jobs. Jobs that pay okay. That's all.'"