The Crossing, by Gary Paulsen
Manny is a small Mexican street boy in Juarez, an orphan who survives by using his wits and his speed against other desperate boys, against the evil street men who would kill or sell him, against starvation and death. Manny has only one chance to survive, and that means crossing the river into the United States, an incredibly dangerous undertaking for a small boy alone. Robert is a sergeant in the Army. His whole life consists of being a good officer during the day and surviving his haunted nights by drinking himself into oblivion. Robert is haunted by dead friends, gruesomely killed in war. Manny and Robert meet when the sergeant is being sick behind a bar and Manny tries to lift his wallet. Manny doesn't succeed, but this is the beginning of a relationship, brief and brutal, which leads to the sergeant's death and Manny's chance for survival. Paulsen creates a stark, moving portrait of Mexican poverty and street life, of the desperation facing those who attempt ``the crossing.'' Like the relationship between Robert and Manny, this book is brief and brutal but ends on a note of hope. -- Rosie Peasley, for School Library Journal.