We Are Not from Here

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By Jenny Torres Sanchez

Publisher Description

A poignant novel of desperation, escape, and survival across the U.S.-Mexico border, inspired by current events.

A Pura Belpré 2021 Young Adult Author Honor Book!
A BookPage Best Book of 2020!
A Chicago Public Library Best of the Best of 2020!
A School Library Journal Best Book of 2020!
A New York Public Library 2020 Top 10 Best Book for Teens!

Pulga has his dreams.
Chico has his grief.
Pequeña has her pride.

And these three teens have one another. But none of them have illusions about the town they've grown up in and the dangers that surround them. Even with the love of family, threats lurk around every corner. And when those threats become all too real, the trio knows they have no choice but to run: from their country, from their families, from their beloved home.

Crossing from Guatemala through Mexico, they follow the route of La Bestia, the perilous train system that might deliver them to a better life--if they are lucky enough to survive the journey. With nothing but the bags on their backs and desperation drumming through their hearts, Pulga, Chico, and Pequeña know there is no turning back, despite the unknown that awaits them. And the darkness that seems to follow wherever they go.

In this striking portrait of lives torn apart, the plight of migrants at the U.S. southern border is brought to light through poignant, vivid storytelling. An epic journey of danger, resilience, heartache, and hope.

Praise for We Are Not From Here:

“A fierce and tender story...Relevant, timely, and perceptive.” --Margarita Engle, winner of the Pura Belpre Award and Newbery Honor

"With poignant, exhausting lyricism and heart wrenching poetic prose, Jenny Torres Sanchez digs deep and shows us the throbbing, aching corazón--the hopeful, unbreakable spirit of the embattled immigrant. A book for the starving, lost soul." --Guadalupe García McCall, Pura Belpré Award-winning author of Under the Mesquite

"An incredibly powerful, soul-searing YA. [I]mportant and necessary.... I could not put this book down." --Padma Venkatraman, award-winning author of The Bridge Home

"One of the most relevant and needed young adult novels of the year, a must-read." --Jennifer Mathieu, critically acclaimed author of The Liars of Mariposa Island and Moxie

"An achingly beautifully story...masterfully told...Jenny Torres Sanchez is a true leader within young adult fiction." --Christina Diaz Gonzalez, award-winning author of The Red Umbrella

"We Are Not From Here is absolutely stunning. It's raw and real, gritty and gorgeously told. A story that's painfully relevant today, and told with such precision and beauty, you can feel it. It's breathtaking and left me absolutely breathless." --Lauren Gibaldi, author of This Tiny Perfect World

"[This] is a book that will mark your heart. Jenny Torres Sanchez challenges us to feel, empathize and understand. A searing, necessary and ultimately beautiful book." --Alexandra Villasante, critically acclaimed author of The Grief Keeper

* "A brutally honest, not-to-be-missed narrative...gripping, heart-wrenching, and thrilling." --Kirkus Reviews, STARRED REVIEW

* "A candid, realistic story that will leave readers thinking about the characters--and about our own world--long after the last page." --SLJ, STARRED REVIEW

* "Gripping, poignant...this soul-shaking narrative [recalls] the works of Gabriel García Márquez." --Booklist, STARRED REVIEW

* "A devastating read that is difficult to put down, this unforgettable book unflinchingly illuminates the experiences of those leaving their homes to seek safety in the United States." --Publishers Weekly, STARRED REVIEW

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153 Reviews

4.5

Atomicbaz

Created 14 days ago

Gigi W

Created about 2 months ago

SEWA

Created about 2 months ago

BobbiBooks

Created 2 months ago

“This is a book I had to take a day to process before rating. The themes and discussions throughout this book were heavy. My heart is a paperweight, pushing down with grief and pain of what I read. I warn before reading this review, that there are triggers mentioned of: sexual coercion, child death, family abandonment, and gang violence, as well as topics that might be triggering like immigration, lost children, and unwanted pregnancy. Please feel free to skip this if this is something that may be hard to read. We Are Not From Here is a Contemporary Young Adult novel that follows three children - Pulga, Pequena, and Chico - as they transition from life in the barrios within Guatemala, where things are becoming increasingly more dangerous, towards their journey of escape to America by riding the rails of La Bestia (also known as El Tren de la Muerte, which is a freight train that rides through Mexico to the United States). Many elements of this hit hard and opened my eyes to so much I was ignorant to - the only prior research I've encountered on this topic was via an NPR deep dive on migrant relocation camps located along the border ran by the Border Patrol. I knew that children and parents were seperated upon arrival and it was an experience doused in anguish and trauma for both parties. NPR shared brutal sound clippets of children wailing and begging for reunification with thier loved ones. The fact that this is still an experience based in the present is shocking and reform has not moved fast enough to address this whatsoever. In the novel, We Are Not From Here, there is a brief section where Pulga is within one of these camps and he is so numb emotionally from the journey at that point, and yet the mistreatment of those there does not go unnoticed, as he takes it upon himself to care for and sooth a four-year old tricked into seperating from his mother, whose father had died on the way there. Each character's young life was compounded in anguish for different reasons, but they all share the same feelings of having 'no other choice but to flee'; Pequena gives birth to a baby she does not want to a man who runs with local gangs, Pulga is grieving a father he never knew, while being recruited into a gang unwillingly along with Chico, his best friend, who lives with them, as his mother died and he had nowhere else to go. They are so young and scared, already struggling with living in poverty, let alone feeling trapped into a life they do not want. I loved learning about safe harbors for migrants along their travel, the genuine people that exist to serve this community, and the cultural experiences I will never know firsthand. The author wrote some strong and beautiful prose that made this an unforgettable novel. And the details and thoughtfulness of the characterization and setting are not lost on the reader - down to the smallest things, like the children's names, which in direct English translation are Flea, Small, and Boy. The names are referenced several times to be a more global understanding of how they feel about their lives - they live small lives and are prophesized by their names to continue living small lives and being small and insignificant forever. The author does a masterful job creating this theme of insignificance in the point of views of each narrator. "We are specks that don't matter to this world. Our lives, our dreams, our families don't matter to this world. Our hearts, our souls, our bodies don't matter to this world. All it wants to do is crush us. It crushed Chico. It crushed Pequena. It's crushing Nene. And it will crush me too." - Pages 330-331, Pulga's POV In finishing this truly haunting book, I know if given a rating it is a 5 star read. However, I cannot wash over the fact that the author has absolutely no trigger warnings at the beginning of this novel. As an adult reading this, I wept and grieved and felt so hollow in my emotional reactions to this, but from a young adult's perspective or the perspective of someone who has lived any of these experiences? I could not imagine the brutality of this read. I hope in the future, this is mindfully added by the publisher and author, because I still would have read the book, but wow, would I have been better prepared emotionally and mentally if I knew what was to come! With that said, thank you for writing this, Jenny Torres Sanchez. I am overwhelmed with appreciation for you and unsettling discontent with the state of immigration and the prejudices towards migrants within our country.”

Nancy Staggs

Created 4 months ago

“VERY touching. Hits home.”

About Jenny Torres Sanchez

Jenny Torres Sanchez (www.jennytorressanchez.com) is a full-time writer and former English teacher. She was born in Brooklyn, New York, but has lived on the border of two worlds her whole life. She is the author of We Are Not From Here; The Fall of Innocence; Because of the Sun; Death, Dickinson, and the Demented Life of Frenchie Garcia; and The Downside of Being Charlie. She lives in Orlando, Florida, with her husband and children. Follow her on Twitter @jetchez and on Instagram @jennytsanchez.