Returning to Guatemala

Returning to Guatemala is part of the “Leaving My Homeland: After the Journey” series from Crabtree Publishing. This series continues the fictional stories begun in the Crabtree Publishing series “Leaving My Homeland”. The characters in these stories are young people who have been forced by circumstance to become refugees.

Returning to Guatemala tells the story of Martinez, a fictional child who fled gang violence in Guatemala but is now returning with his family to Guatemala to help relatives who need their help.

Statistics, maps, background information about the homeland country, Guatemala, set Martinez’s story in context. Also included are text boxes titled, “Story in Numbers”. Combined with the fictional personal narratives, these statistics give a clear picture of the experiences of refugees.

Some examples of the numbers are:

In Guatemala, 2.1 million people live in places where gangs have control. There are 14,000 gang members in Guatemala.

In 2017, approximately 21,000 Guatemalans were deported from Mexico.

In Guatemala, 50 percent of children under the age of five do not have enough food to grow big and strong.

Scattered through the book are different articles of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. These articles are a clear reminder that all refugees, including children, have rights. A resource listed at the end of the book leads the reader to a United Nations website that explains these rights in child-friendly language.

Like other books in the “Leaving My Homeland: After the Journey” series, Returning to Guatemala includes a table of contents, a simple glossary, an index, and a page of resources for additional information. Each book ends with a list of discussion prompts to help the reader recall and consolidate the information in the book.

Part of the story is told in the first person through Martinez’s letters to friends he has left behind in Mexico, some of whom are also refugees looking for new permanent homes.

The books in this series support global citizenship. Each book ends with a section titled, “Do Not Forget Our Stories!” Although this section explains that sometimes returning refugees are not welcomed back, it ends with a paragraph that seems out of place, referring to adult refugees in new countries.

Most adult refugees in new countries have jobs and support their new country by paying taxes. They often help support other newcomers in their communities, too.

Despite this confusing paragraph, Returning to Guatemala provides a glimpse into the difficulties faced by refugees, whether they are successful in their efforts to find a new homeland, or not. Hopefully, these stories will help non-refugee students develop greater empathy with newcomers in their schools and communities.

Whether your school or community has a high number of refugee children or not, the books in this series, including Returning to Guatemala, belong in every library.