The Only Road, Alexandra Diaz
The Only Road, Alexandra Diaz
1 Rating(s)
List: $19.99 | Sale: $13.99
Club: $9.99

The Only Road

Author: Alexandra Diaz

Narrator: Ramon De Ocampo

Unabridged: 6 hr 50 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 11/12/2019


Synopsis

Twelve-year-old Jaime makes the treacherous and life-changing journey from his home in Guatemala to live with his older brother in the United States in this gripping and realistic middle grade novel.

Jaime is sitting on his bed drawing when he hears a scream. Instantly, he knows: Miguel, his cousin and best friend, is dead.

Everyone in Jaime's small town in Guatemala knows someone who has been killed by the Alphas, a powerful gang that's known for violence and drug trafficking. Anyone who refuses to work for them is hurt or killed—like Miguel. With Miguel gone, Jaime fears that he is next. There's only one choice: accompanied by his cousin Ángela, Jaime must flee his home to live with his older brother in New Mexico.

Inspired by true events, The Only Road is an individual story of a boy who feels that leaving his home and risking everything is his only chance for a better life. It is a story of fear and bravery, love and loss, strangers becoming family, and one boy's treacherous and life-changing journey.

About Alexandra Diaz

Alexandra Diaz is the author of The Only Road, which was a Pura Belpre Honor Book, an ALA Notable Book, and the recipient of two starred reviews. She is also the author of Of All the Stupid Things, which was an ALA Rainbow List book and a New Mexico Book Award finalist. Alexandra is the daughter of Cuban refugees and lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico, but got her MA in writing for young people at Bath Spa University in England. A native Spanish speaker, Alexandra now teaches creative writing to adults and teens.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Elena on December 15, 2019

Intense and heartbreaking and thought provoking. Anyone who approves of the current round of massive deportations of undocumented immigrants should read this to understand a little of why people from Mexico and South and Central America choose to come to the U.S. illegally and what they go through j......more

Goodreads review by Vanessa on March 02, 2021

(4.5) ¡Me encantó! Un libro con una temática importante como la inmigración. Es un relato para niños entre 9-12 años que cuenta la historia de como Jaime y Ángela tienen que dejar Guatemala y llegar a Estados Unidos. Un libro que se puede disfrutar a cualquier edad y que te conmoverá.......more

Goodreads review by Book Concierge on March 14, 2020

Digital audiobook performed by Ramon de Ocampo. 5***** and a ❤ Twelve-year-old Jaime and his fifteen-year-old cousin, Angela, are forced to flee their Guatemalan village due to the Alpha gang’s terrorizing families in their area. Their families make the heart-wrenching decision to send the youngsters......more

Goodreads review by Alex on March 22, 2017

After his cousin Miguel is beaten to death by a gang called the Alphas for refusing to join them, Jaime, 12, and Miguel’s sister Ángela, 15, receive a note from the gang instructing them to show up a a certain place in six days. Though the note doesn’t say it, both children know that they will meet......more

Goodreads review by Linda on November 26, 2023

Wonderful story about two children who leave Guatemala in the middle of the night to escape the drugs and gangs to make a new life in America.......more