Efrén Divided by Ernesto Cisneros

Abstract

Reviewed by: Efrén Divided by Ernesto Cisneros Elizabeth Bush Cisneros, Ernesto Efrén Divided. Harper, 2020 [272p] Trade ed. ISBN 978-0-06-288168-7 $16.99 E-book ed. ISBN 978-0-06-288170-0 $7.99 Reviewed from galleys R Gr. 4-6 Middle-schooler Efrén and his younger twin siblings are American citizens, but their parents are undocumented immigrants from Mexico, who fled from drug cartel threats years ago and have been working under the radar at blue collar jobs in California. When their mother is swept up in an ICE raid and deported, her husband is frantic to get her back and the management of school, household, and child care falls on Efrén's shoulders. Efrén tirelessly pitches in while hiding his anxieties from the twins, his teachers, his neighbors, and his already overburdened father, and eventually he and his father take a high stakes gamble in delivering Amá money across the border to pay a coyote for transit. Cisneros ably conveys for a young audience what life can look like for the working poor, and how fear, embarrassment, mistrust, and desperation become variables in the calculus of seeking help. While the family's unrelenting patience is a little implausible, the emotions ring true, and the conclusion, which finds Amá trapped in Tijuana and Efrén emerging tentatively from the shadows, is a fully credible pause point in Efrén's ongoing story. An extensive glossary of Spanish words and phrases is included. Copyright © 2020 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois