I hope you’ll read both and take something from them to carry with you as we move together through this beautiful catastrophe called life. They help where help is called for, then they step back and use their gifts to further their causes and share their stories with others.Įveryday is a crisis for someone, somewhere in the world, but I didn’t want our present disruption to deter from sharing my stories about about two extraordinary San Franciscans and their stories, with you. Both Argueta and Jiménez are very much engaged in their work, in their immediate communities and matters of global importance. Though the poet and the photographer have life experience that’s vastly different, they have a common heart and a common goal: They love life and the world around them. I hope you’ll read more of his story in my San Francisco Examiner column, SFLives.

Argueta turned one of those stories into a novel in verse, Caravan To The North. We learn all the different reasons why people feel the need to leave - the hope that lies behind their decision, but also the terrible sadness. Of course the migrants encountered all forms of difficulty during their caravan to the north and were ultimately turned away or separated from family. An urgent and eloquent account of a boy traveling in a caravan from his beloved homeland of El Salvador to the US border. Jorge Argueta Argueta, Jorge This novel in verse is a powerful first-person account of Misael Martínez, a Salvadoran boy whose family joins the caravan heading north to the United States.

border, hoping to encourage them on their journeys. Forty years later, he returned to San Salvador to meet with migrants headed for the U.S. His migration to San Francisco in the ’70s during El Salvador’s civil war landed him in the center of a growing and active Central American community in the Mission District where he pursued writing. Jorge Argueta is a poet, author of children’s books and a librarian in his home country of El Salvador. An author's note is included, along with a map showing the caravan's route.Jorge Argueta. Award-winning Mexican illustrator Manuel Monroy illuminates Misael's journey. This beautiful and timely story is written in simple but poetic verse by Jorge Argueta, the award-winning author of Somos como las nubes / We Are Like the Clouds. The book ends with Misael dreaming of El Salvador. But then tear gas, hateful demonstrations, force and fear descend on these vulnerable people. They think they have arrived at the goal of the trip - to enter the United States.

We learn about how far and hard the trip is, but also about the kindness of those along the way.įinally, once the caravan arrives in Tijuana, Misael and those around him are relieved.

We learn all the different reasons why people feel the need to leave - the hope that lies behind their decision, but also the terrible sadness of leaving home. This novel in verse is a powerful first-person account of Misael Martínez, a Salvadoran boy whose family joins the caravan heading north to the United States.

Caravan to the North by Jorge Argueta