Title: Solito
Episode: 46
Author: Javier Zamora
Publisher: Penguin Random House
Tags: Immigration, El Salvador, poet, family, love, strangers become family
Additional resources: The Poetry Foundation featuring Zamora
Audience: young adult and well beyond, of course
Audio: Librofm.audiobooks
Quote:
“This feels wrong. We were The Eight. Then The Six. This morning we were The Four, briefly: now we’re The Three. I’m afraid it’s gonna be just me. That Patricia and Carla will leave. I don’t want to be alone. I’ll do anything. I want to cry. I want to cuddle. I want to be with my parents” (256).
These are nine year old Javier’s thoughts as he trudges forward, hopefully moving closer to reuniting with his parents in LA USA, the United States. This captivating Memoir, Solito, is written by Javier Zamora, now an adult, and explains his migration from El Salvador to the U.S. in 1999. It’s 375 pages, with the bulk of the story about his journey from El Salvador to Guatemala, Mexico, the Sonoran Desert and finally the U.S.. While not specifically written for a young adult audience, Solito could seamlessly fit into the lap of YA readers.
Summary
Born in 1990, in El Salvador, Javier belonged to a close-knit family and was well-loved and cared for by his Abuelita, Grandpa, and Tia Mali. At the age of nine, he didn’t remember his father who fled El Salvador during a Civil War when Javier was only a year old. And, he hasn’t seen his mother since he was five, when she fled to meet Javier’s dad in the U.S. and find employment.
For forever though, Javier knew that someday, he’d take a “trip” and be reunited with his parents who were living in California, an almost mythical place he imagined that was luxurious, complete with swimming pools and mango trees. Phone calls, gifts and photos his parents sent helped Javier feel connected to them until the three of them could be together again.
Javier started hearing the adults speak in hushed whispers when he realized arrangements were underway for his “trip.”
This was the year Javier would see his parents! Javier noticed other kids at his school who were there one day and gone the next… this would be Javier, soon he’d be gone from school like his friends and on his way, and at last to his parents.
The family decided to use a coyote named Don Dago to help Javier reach his parents. This is the same coyote who successfully took Mom to La USA four years ago. Don Dago made all the travel plans for Mom, and she made the trip in two weeks. They chose a departure date that would allow Javier plenty of time to arrive in California with enough time to learn English before school started.
On April 6, 1999 Grandpa and Javier boarded a bus bound for Guatemala along with others fleeing El Salvador. This is the only part of Javier’s journey where he’d have a family member traveling with him. Once they reached Guatemala, Grandpa would turn back and Javier would move forward. Grandpa implored those traveling onward with his grandson to take care of him, “He’s little and won't have his family. You are his family.” To begin, Javier is traveling with a fairly large group.
And so Javier’s journey began…a 3,000 mile journey started on a bus from El Salvador to Guatemala. Then boat travel to Mexico followed by long hot rides in trucks and on foot. Plans continue to change. There is so much waiting, wondering, worrying…
Long bus rides. A hot desert. A cold desert. Then, a new coyote. Walking, there is so much walking.
Javier’s group is caught. He says, “I’m in a zoo. A cage. We’re locked in.” Then, their group was deported back to Mexico (their pretend country). And now, there are just three left: Javier and his pretend mom, Patricia, and pretend sister, Carla.
Along the way, they are never without hope and do experience the kindness of their “found family” and a group of nuns with food and a place to sleep.
The group makes a second attempt to get the U.S. More walking and preparation for barbed wire fences.
Finally in June, after seven weeks. Solito ends as Javier sees the shadows of his parents.
I cannot attempt to adequately recap the two month grueling journey Javier Zamora spent traveling from El Salvador to the U.S.. I hope you’ll read Solito so you can not only experience his journey but also appreciate the talented poet that he is. Even though Solito is written in prose, the poet in him shines through. This is especially true for me as I listened to this harrowing journey where Zamora narrates. Hearing his voice truly brought his story home and to my heart.
To mention…
This is the point where I mention details that could be unsettling. As you can imagine, there are so many frightening events that happen to nine-year old Javier including being caged, fearing gun shots, and feeling intense trepidation for a person of any age, and especially a nine-year old boy, traveling with people he’s never met.
Onto wondering who may be interested in reading Solito?
Readers drawn to memoirs and lyrical, expressive writing are a natural audience. Perhaps, Zamora’s powerful story will bring light to the countless people who are forced to flee their homeland. As Zamora’s first language is Spanish, Spanish phrases are scattered throughout.
Stories are often the catalyst to learn more about the people and places on the pages. Here, readers may want to read Zamora’s 2017 poetry collection called Unaccompanied , “his debut collection of poems, where he writes about borderland politics, race, and immigration.”
The author
Javier Zamora is a Salvadoran poet with an impressive bio that includes being a Harvard Radcliff fellow and numerous awards. Zamora says that he hopes Solito helps him reunite with the “family” that traveled with him on this seven week journey, “to thank them for risking their lives for a nine-year old boy they did not know.”
Until our next, I’d be grateful for your positive rating or review. I can’t wait to recommend this book to the readers I know and love.
Check out the episode notes for a transcript and more resources.
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