Manuelito: A Graphic Novel

Volume XXV / Issue 18 - January 18 / 2019
Manuelito
Manuelito
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Manuelito: A Graphic Novel

Author: 
Elisa Amado
Illustrated by: 
Abraham Urias
Toronto, ON: Annick Press, April, 2019
91 pp., hardcover, $19.99
Grades: 
Grades 8-12
Ages: 
Ages 13-17
Review by: 
Sarah Wethered
3
Excerpt: 

This story just happened to me earlier this year. My name is Manuelito. I’m 13. This is my family and some other people from my story. My parents Pedro and Rosa. My grandparents Manuel and Carmen. They died a few years ago. My mother is their daughter.

My mother’s brother TÍo Domingo. He was disappeared when he was 12, almost 35 years ago.

My TÍa Adela. She’s my aunt and she lived in Long Island, USA.

My sister Rosita. She’s 10.

Me, Manuelito. I’m 13.

Jenny, a very nice girl who is 14.

My friend Coco Loco. He was older than me. His father owned the village store.

Some senoras who helped me.

The coyote, a very bad man who gets paid to take people like me to the USA.

Manuelito, a graphic novel, tells the story of a 13-year-old child refugee who travels from Guatemala to the United States to seek asylum. His parents believe that Manuelito will be safer from the drug cartels if he makes the dangerous voyage to the United States. They pay a “coyote” to escort their son from their tiny village to the United States where Manuelito hopes to live with his TÍo Adela in Long Island. Armed with only a bus ticket and a little bit of money, Manuelito and his friend Coco Loco are escorted by the coyote, with the hopes of starting a new life in the United States.

Readers of Manuelito will be compelled to find out what happens to Manuelito. Did he make it to the US? Did he meet up with his aunt? Did he get to stay in the US? The matter-of-fact text complements the emotionally-charged dialogue well. The result is a story that will compel readers to read to the end of the graphic novel to see what happens to Manuelito and his family.

I recommend Manuelito to readers who enjoy graphic novels that tell realistic stories. The plotline mimics events that are currently happening in the United States, with the crackdown on asylum seekers and the threat of deportation by ICE officials. The simple pencil drawings are compelling and powerful and help move the storyline along. Manuelito would also be a good recommendation for students studying social justice issues.

Recommended
Reviewer: 

Sarah Wethered has been a teacher-librarian at New Westminster Secondary School for 19 years, and she currently lives in New Westminster, British Columbia.