In the five years I’ve been at my school, I’ve had a handful of students face the deportation of a parent or sibling and even more who had loved ones that didn’t ‘have papers’ AKA they were undocumented and thus at risk of deportation.
From a counseling level (and a human level!), I could feel their pain and help them process the situation. Though each situation is unique, there almost always seems to be some combination of trauma/grief/loss/stigma/financial instability. Despite these understandings, I really wanted to find some specific resources to use with my students on the topic.
Imagine my excitement then when I stumbled upon the book From North to South / Del Norte al Sur
Pros: Each page is filled with beautiful illustrations, the text is also in Spanish, and the existence of the book (as well as it’s treatment of deportation) can remove the stigma from this scary situation.
Cons: The child gets to go visit his mom!!! Perhaps in TX or CA this is more common, but in my experience, the most my students can hope for is FaceTime or a phone call. For me, this makes the book less of a candidate for bibliotherapy. While the first part is relatable, the whole piece about the boy going to see his mom doesn’t feel realistic and may bring false hope. It also doesn’t delve into the emotional and social experience the main character faces either which was a major bummer.
The Verdict: Good book, would be great to have in school libraries…but not great bibliotherapy for deportation and not a must have for counselors.
