Kirkus
Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

A father and son run errands across the U.S.Mexico border.Early on Saturday, the boy (who's never named) prepares his special bag to bring to Mexico for his friends. Crossing from Texas to Tamaulipas, the duo drives across town and over the bridge into a twin town where Spanish is just as frequently heard, but English is spoken less. Before tackling their errands, father and son stop to fuel up with caf de olla and chocolate caliente, respectively. They visit the jewelry shop, gather groceries and supplies at the abarrotes, play soccer with cousins, and pick up medicine at the pharmacy. On their way back home to the United States, the protagonist encounters his friends at the bridge: displaced people from the Caribbean and Central America living in limbo on the border between two towns and two countries. Taking advantage of the slow pace of the traffic on the bridge, the boy exits his fathers truck, bringing the gathered supplies and toys to those in wait. In what initially comes across as a story of a sweet visit to a Mexican town to run some errands, Bowles seamlessly weaves in some of the complexities of living on the border. He fearlessly introduces the complex issues surrounding the presence of refugees waiting to be admitted into the United States and candidly portrays the everyday lives of families who span the border, creating a unique cosmos in this space. Mezas background illustrations around town imbue the pages with Mexicos vibrance. Bowles translates his own text into Spanish in a simultaneously publishing edition. (This book was reviewed digitally.)Beautiful, honest, complex. (Picture book. 4-8) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Kirkus
Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

A father and son run errands across the U.S.–Mexico border. Early on Saturday, the boy (who's never named) prepares his “special bag” to bring to Mexico for his friends. Crossing from Texas to Tamaulipas, the duo drives across town and over the bridge into a twin town where Spanish is just as frequently heard, but English is spoken less. Before tackling their errands, father and son stop to fuel up with café de olla and chocolate caliente, respectively. They visit the jewelry shop, gather groceries and supplies at the abarrotes, play soccer with cousins, and pick up medicine at the pharmacy. On their way back home to the United States, the protagonist encounters his friends at the bridge: displaced people from the Caribbean and Central America living in limbo on the border between two towns and two countries. Taking advantage of the slow pace of the traffic on the bridge, the boy exits his father’s truck, bringing the gathered supplies and toys to those in wait. In what initially comes across as a story of a sweet visit to a Mexican town to run some errands, Bowles seamlessly weaves in some of the complexities of living on the border. He fearlessly introduces the complex issues surrounding the presence of refugees waiting to be admitted into the United States and candidly portrays the everyday lives of families who span the border, creating a unique cosmos in this space. Meza’s background illustrations around town imbue the pages with Mexico’s vibrance. Bowles translates his own text into Spanish in a simultaneously publishing edition. (This book was reviewed digitally.) Beautiful, honest, complex. (Picture book. 4-8) Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Horn Book
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

A sleepy boy is nudged awake by his father for a routine Saturday trip, heading across the U.S.-Mexico border to "el Otro Lado." As they reach the Rio Grande, the father reminds his son of the Indigenous history of the land, now divided, the flag of each nation visible on opposite banks of the broad river. Once across, father and son visit their favorite restoran for breakfast; then, with mercado bags in hand, begin their errands, stopping by brightly colored shops (such as Tio Mateo's jewelry store) and picking up prescriptions, bottled water, T-shirts, sweets, and other items on their list. The trip culminates in a visit to their "gente" -- families camping out on the side of the bridge, hoping to enter the U.S. -- for whom most of the items on their list were purchased. Meza's gleaming watercolor and gouache illustrations magnify Bowles's bittersweet tone, capturing the compassion in the pair's venture and the underlying tension at the border in the expressions of soldiers and refugees. Spanglish ("troca"; "my primos") and shop signs in Spanish and English emphasize how culturally interconnected border towns are. With lyrical text (the Rio Grande is "a watery serpent that glints with the dawn"), Novelist Bowles's picture-book debut weaves weightier realities into a story of ordinary border-town life, and does so with a gentle hand. Waving goodbye to their friends, the father and son return home as the sunset washes the scenery with warm pinks, leaving no doubt that the dedicated pair will carry on their duty as long as the hopeful migrants wait. Concurrently published in Spanish as Mis dos pueblos fronterizos. (c) Copyright 2023. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.