CROSSING THE WIRE by Will Hobbs

Will Hobbs, Crossing the Wire (New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 2006).

Crossing the Wire, by Will Hobbs, read by Ramón de Ocampo (Frederick, MD: Recorded Books, 2006).

Also available on Kindle and Nook.

Reviewed by Wilda Morris

(NOVEL)

Crossing the Wire is a well-written adventure and coming-of-age story. Victor Flores is shocked when he learns that his long-time best friend Rico Rivera has received $1500 from his older brother so he can pay a coyote to get him across the border from Mexico into the US. Rico’s main incentives are a desire for adventure and a desire to get rich.

Victor’s father died working in the US, and the teenager has done his best to provide for his mother, sisters and little brother. Unfortunately, the free trade treaty and US subsidies to corn farmers has made life increasingly difficult. Corn exported to Mexico is so cheap that Mexican farmers cannot compete. Victor finally decides he must try to get across the border and get a job, or his family will not have enough food for the coming year. He doesn’t have money to pay a coyote, so he will have to make it on his own.

Will Victor get across the border and be able to send money home? What happened to Rico and the other men from their village with whom he left for the border? Will the boys meet again? Hobbs has worked into this young adult novel many of the dangers confronted by Mexicans driven by poverty, a desire for better lives for themselves and their families, and (occasionally) a desire for adventure: desert heat, extreme cold in the mountains, violence, drug runners, gangsters, border patrols, petty thieves, and more. Victor has to decide again and again who can or cannot be trusted,

Elements of Mexican culture are also worked into the book. Though he grew up near Guanajuato, Victor is from Chiapas. In Mayan civilization, the jaguar facilitates communication between the living and the dead (and maybe between two people who are far apart). When Victor was quite small, he saw a jaguar in Chiapas. Will s jaguar help him on is journey?

I recommend this book to teens and to adults of all ages. It has won the following recognitions: Americas Award Commended Title, Junior Library Guild Selection, Southwest Book Award, Notable Books for a Global Society (IRA) 2007, New York Public Library Books for the Teenage, and the Heartland Award.

The audio-book is well read by Ramón de Ocampo.