Land of the Cranes by Aida Salazar

I know how to write and draw the picture poems Ms. Martinez taught us to paint our feelings. I know to never forget to scribble my name and date on the bottom.

Publisher blurb: Nine-year-old Betita knows she is a crane. Papi has told her the story, even before her family fled to Los Angeles to seek refuge from cartel wars in Mexico. The Aztecs came from a place called Aztlan, what is now the Southwest US, called the land of the cranes. They left Aztlan to establish their great city in the center of the universe-Tenochtitlan, modern-day Mexico City. It was prophesized that their people would one day return to live among the cranes in their promised land. Papi tells Betita that they are cranes that have come home. Then one day, Betita's beloved father is arrested by Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE) and deported to Mexico. Betita and her pregnant mother are left behind on their own, but soon they too are detained and must learn to survive in a family detention camp outside of Los Angeles. Even in cruel and inhumane conditions, Betita finds heart in her own poetry and in the community she and her mother find in the camp. The voices of her fellow asylum seekers fly above the hatred keeping them caged, but each day threatens to tear them down lower than they ever thought they could be. Will Betita and her family ever be whole again?

This book is a harrowing one to read but it is also such an important story that needs to be shared. I expect this book has probably been banned in some states of the US because it takes a very unapologetic and raw honest view of ICE and the dreadful conditions in detention centres.

Here are some text quotes (note this is a verse novel but I have not set the quotes out in that format):

Six raids in the last two days, Papi chews. Where? In the factories just over the tracks. People say there will be more. This administration is out to get us. But this is a sanctuary state. A what, Mami? Papi clears his throat and almost whispers, A “sanctuary” is a place where cranes can’t get caught. Caught for doing what?

On Monday Papi must be late. It’s six p.m. and aftercare closes at six fifteen. The ticks on the clock are honey-slow tocks I try not to count. I wonder if Papi’s broken a wing on the skyscrapers he helps build with hammers and steel?

From a string of weeping words I learn someone named ICE put Papi and other hammer workers. From a string of weeping words I learn someone named ICE put Papi and other hammer workers.

We line up to be served a cardboard tray holding a burrito moldy and half-frozen. Exactly how it feels to be inside this prison.

The guard’s fist smashes into her nose which sends her back like a rag doll. Then the other guard rushes her while she is down and kicks and kicks and kicks her in the stomach and in the face until she is        still crying and breathing a heavy and steady pain.

Kirus say ages 8-12 but I totally disagree. This book is one I would place in a High School library for readers aged 12+. It touches on sexual assault and has some very violent and distressing scenes.

Betita expresses her feelings through short poems and pictures:

To make a picture poem first, close your eyes. I tell them. Then let your imagination lead to where your heart is and ask, How are you feeling? Now sit with the answer and if it is sad or scary or happy or grumpy then ask yourself, What does your feeling look like? What shapes appear? What words appear? What story are you telling?

Salazar’s verse novel presents contemporary issues such as “zero tolerance” policies, internalized racism, and mass deportations through Betita’s innocent and hopeful eyes, making the complex topics easy to understand through passionate, lyrical verses. Kirkus

I read an ebook version of this book for a book discussion group. It is not available to buy here in Australia but you might find a copy in a library.

From the author: I wrote Land of the Cranes with an understanding of the long and devastating history of raids, separations, deportations, incarcerations, and deaths my community has suffered. But also, I wrote from an intimate place. I, like Betita, was an undocumented child. I was born in Mexico and brought to the United States as a baby. My childhood fear of “La Migra” (immigration enforcement) and how they could easily rip our family apart hung over me until we received our green cards, though this was not necessarily a guarantee of safety. ... I wrote Land of the Cranes with an understanding of the long and devastating history of raids, separations, deportations, incarcerations, and deaths my community has suffered. But also, I wrote from an intimate place. I, like Betita, was an undocumented child. I was born in Mexico and brought to the United States as a baby. My childhood fear of “La Migra” (immigration enforcement) and how they could easily rip our family apart hung over me until we received our green cards, though this was not necessarily a guarantee of safety.

Here are three other books by Aida Salazar: