Solito is a memoir about migration from El Salvador to the USA. It’s told from the perspective of a 9 year old so while it’s interesting and at times charming to hear that perspective to also brings the writing down a bit. While the path was harrowing I found every single descriptions being told really slowed the story down: and because the writer is 9 there’s not a lot for him to call on from past experiences. It’s all just a straight telling of this happens then this then this. I think this is a really important book and I wanted it to be a favorite but instead I think it’s merely one I’m glad I read.

Reading this story was a very difficult experience. The writing was easy to digest but also beautiful. Readers can tell how exceptionally bright and creative the author was as a child. It is tragic that the author had to experience such trauma and hardships at a young age in order to reunite with his parents and live a better life. This is the kind of book we need to combat the hateful lies spread about immigrants, especially immigrants from Central and South America.

I wish we were able to learn more about other characters. I would have liked to know the backstories of Patricia, Chino, Chele, etc. It would have been helpful for readers to understand other reasons why individuals are compelled to migrate to the US even with the innumerable, perilous risks.

I would recommend this book to anyone. I would especially recommend this to those who are uneducated on the topic of immigration. Stories like this one are excellent sources of information.

TW/CW: Brief mentions of sexuality, danger, scary sequences, death, injury

RATING: 5/5

REVIEW: I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley and am voluntarily leaving an honest review.

Solito is the true story of a nine-year-old boy from El Salvador who crosses through Guatemala and Mexico in order to join his parents in California. It examines the danger and terror of migration through the eyes of a child and tells the harrowing tale of how, in a small group and with less-than-trustworthy coyotes, he was finally able to reach the USA.

This book is fantastic. I’ve never read anything like it. I’ve always been interested in the migrant experience, but there aren’t that many books down there that go into the detail this book does of how people from Latin America actually get to the United States, and all the things they have to suffer through in the process.

This is a very human book – much more humanity than politics – and should be required reading.

Finally, at the age of nine, Javier Zamora is “old” enough to begin his quest from El Salvador through Guatemala and Mexico to California where he will be reunited with his parents. They left four years ago. He recalls their love and phone conversations although he barely remembers his father. Javier is going alone, solito, to begin a journey led by a “coyote” who is being paid to get him and others safely through their travels. He carefully packs what he thinks he will need. Javier’s excitement builds yet there is sorrow for leaving his family, friends and school behind.

He and his family believe this trip will take about two weeks. But the unexpected happens. People entrusted with his care disappear, routes change, rules are strictly given and transportation and lodging is unreliable. Javier must rely on his nine-year-old self and form bonds and trust with those who may help him.

This is an unforgettable story of faith, love and perseverance that should be read by young adults as well as adults. It places the immigrant experience on a moving personal level filled with hope, cruelty and miracles. Highly recommended. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing this title.

Oh this was wonderful. Really anything blurbed by Francisco Cantu is bound to be, so there's no surprise.

This is the author's memoir of his journey across the Mexico-US border at the age of nine. Zamora does an amazing job of inhabiting the mind and the senses of a child, expressing the fears and loneliness of his journey as well as the wonders and sensory details of the foods, the smells, the new experiences.

Whatever one feels about those who cross the border to enter the US this book is a wonderful invitation to see the humanity of those who make this arduous journey.

A heartbreaking, meaningful and inspirational true story of the author's experience as a young 9 year old boy who sought to leave El Salvador to join his family in San Rafael, California. He barely knew his father who had left during the Salvadoran Civil war and his mother decamped a few years later. Finally his parents saved enough money for a coyote to help him cross the border. Reported from a 9 year old's perspective, the horror of the voyage becomes so vivid. Issues that were relevant to a young child's mind, ie. undressing in front of strangers, total embarrassment having to urinate with others around, and working hard not to cry and be strong were so ardent and unfeigned.The entire book showcased many such examples leading to such an affecting and earnest portrayal of his nightmare. The trip to the US was supposed to take only two weeks but 9 weeks later and three attempted border crossing, freedom came to roost. During his journey he found 3 incredibly selfless individuals, a mother and her daughter and another young man who became his second family and helped him
navigate and survive the ordeal. From the sun's burning rays, painful cactus spikes, lack of water, sleazy individuals, sleeping on cement floors with no access to cleanliness and being disillusioned by untrustworthy souls, Javier and his adopted "family" bond in a way that is so touching and poignant.The journeys were horrific but highlighting the need for human closeness and relationships makes this story one that will reverberate in your heart for a long time.

Javier Zamora's essential poetry collection, Unaccompanied (2017), explores various aspects of the before, during, and after of his migration from La Herradura, El Salvador to San Rafael, California as an unaccompanied nine-year-old. This memoir takes place almost entirely in the “during,” recounting in granular detail the long and arduous journey. Javier and the others making the journey with him face many obstacles and setbacks, from falling into cacti to being arrested and jailed on their first attempt at crossing the U.S.-Mexico border. The memoir also has a deft humorous touch throughout, though, from young Javier’s funny nicknames for different desert plants to the Salvadorans’ imperfect codeswitching as they pretend to be Mexican. Although Javier was without his blood family during his migration, the most powerful part of this memoir is the bonds he formed with his found family during the journey. In a note at the end, he writes that his greatest hope for the book is that it helps him reconnect with them—I hope it does, too.

I received a copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Javier Zamora, an El Salvadorian by birth, describes his immigration into the United States via the Mexican border. The brutally dangerous trek through the desert is painstakingly chronicled and hard to read.

Such an important work for everyone to experience. Solito is the harrowing tale of Javier Zamora, who at the age of 10 was sent from his home in ElSalvador to join his parents who had already migrated to the United States. Finding no success in getting him a visa, his family pays a coyote to ferry him from teh Guatamala/Mexico border into the US. His memories and descriptions are told from a childs point of view, which expands the impact on the reader. Again, this is an important work and I highly recommend.

Solito is a memoir about Javier’s journey from El Salvador to Tucson Arizona as an unaccompanied minor. Javier meets people that provide a family during his migration. The author does a great job in describing the pathway he had to take which makes you feel like you are taking part of this journey with him. There is a lot of Spanish words that help the reader immerse themselves in Javier’s character. I enjoyed this book a lot. It gives a firsthand account of what it was like for a minor crossing the border in 1999. The book is slow paced but entertaining.

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC!

For the readers I've met who continue to struggle to understand the personhood of immigrants coming to the United States across our southern border, THIS is the book I will now hand them. Zamora's tale, told through the eyes, ears, and perspectives of his young self, takes us into the moment-by-moment experience of a child leaving his ancestral home and traversing thousands of miles to reach his parents and a new life. We experience the unknowns, the horrors and the beauty of his solo expedition, all through a voice that invites readers without judgement.

A beautifully written and powerful autobiography of his journey as a child from El Salvador to the United States and the people who helped a child on this journey.

Solito was a wild ride. The way the author, Javier, transported us along his journey was so well done. The use of the Spanish language and descriptors of the setting, allowed me to escape into this, often stressful journey. These are the stories that are important to be exposed to understand other people's perspectives and experiences.

An autobiographical memoir by Javier Zamora, Solito documents Zamora’s harrowing seven-week journey, undertaken when he was a nine year old, from El Salvador to the United States. I truly enjoyed this account and the frequent use of Spanish dialogue, Latinx cultural details, and Zamora’s focus on the familial and human bonds forged along the way, especially between him and three fellow travelers: Chino, and the mother-daughter pair Patricia and Carla, make the narrative wonderfully immersive. Moving and tender, this story makes you root for the resilient Javier as he makes his way to reunite with his parents, residing in the USA: his experience reminds readers of the many immigrants who leave the security of family and their home country and risk their lives to make it to America, the land of dreams.

This a gripping story of one boy's experience immigrating to the U.S. through the "unofficial " pipeline which was hazardous at best. His grandfather takes him part of the way, but his paid companion abandons him after that. So at nine years old,he makes the rest of the journey
more or less by himself. This memoir reads like an adventure novel as he travels through several countries in Latin America, and crosses the border into the U.S. alone.

Solito is an incredibly touching memoir written from the author’s perspective when he was a young boy. It details his journey from El Salvador to the US and his struggles along the route. Most importantly, it highlights the humanity of people who migrate from one country to another. There are so many extremes in this book, from the callousness of some people to the love shown by a group to a lonely little boy. This book is beautifully written and I will be recommending it to everyone!

Solito will make you think long and hard about illegal immigrant children. Imagine placing your 9-year-old grandson into the hands of strangers and expecting that they will safely deliver him across three borders to his parents. Then imagine that the trip goes horribly wrong and you have no idea where he is for 7 long weeks or if he is even still alive. Solito tells the story of Javier who will be traveling via "coyote" from El Salvador to California. The child has never left his small village, doesn't know how to tie his shoes and knows the wider world only through what he sees on television. Javier feels lost and abandoned by the people his grandfather trusted to care for him on this "two week" trip north to the United States. The journey is long and difficult but Javier is taken under the wing of a mother and daughter and a young man who is traveling with them. This "family" stays together through all of the hardships that come with trying to enter the U.S. illegally. A book that will keep you praying for this child to be reunited with his parents and give a better understanding of the perils of this journey taken by so many.

This book was an incredibly moving tale of a young boy's migration. Thank you to the publisher for an early copy of this.