Publisher: Scholastic Book Service

Copyright Date: 1987

Edition Date: 2006 Release Date: 12/01/05

Pages: 114 pages

ISBN: Publisher: 0-439-78661-4 Perma-Bound: 0-8000-3562-3

ISBN 13: Publisher: 978-0-439-78661-4 Perma-Bound: 978-0-8000-3562-4

Dewey: Fic

LCCN: 87007738

Dimensions: 18 cm.

Subject Heading:
Emotional problems. Fiction.
Mexico. Fiction.

Language: English

Reviewing Agencies: - Find Other Reviewed Titles
Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books
Wilson's Children's Catalog
Wilson's Junior High Catalog

Word Count: 21,935

Reading Level: 5.8

Interest Level: 5-9

Accelerated Reader: reading level: 5.8 / points: 3.0 / quiz: 11706 / grade: Upper Grades

Reading Counts!: reading level:7.1 / points:7.0 / quiz:Q02622

Lexile: 1150L

Guided Reading Level: M

Fountas & Pinnell: M

A critically acclaimed tearjerker from a master storyteller: On one side of the border is brutality and heartache; on the other side--a new life.

14yo Manny is an orphan in Juarez, Mexico. He competes with his bigger, meaner rivals for the coins American tourists throw off the bridge between Texas and his town. Across that heavily guarded bridge await a different world and a better existence.On the night when Manny dares the crossing--through the muddy shallows of the Rio Grande, past the searchlights and the border patrol--the young man encounters an old stranger who could prove to be an ally or an enemy. Manny can't tell for certain. But if he is to achieve his dream, then he must be willing to risk everything--even his life.