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PICTURE BOOKS
Mansour, Vivian

Pilgrim Codex

48 pp. | Levine Querido/Em Querido | February, 2025 | Trade ISBN 9781646145157 $18.99
(2) K-3 Translated by Carlos Rodríguez Cortez. Illustrated by Emmanuel Valtierra. A child lives in Mexico until “one day, my dad heard a bird’s song, a beautiful song that rose up and appeared to say tihui, tihui, tihui: let’s go, let’s go, let’s go.” The family embarks on a long, dangerous trek to “the other side”—the United States—walking­ through a forest in the dead of night, following coyotes (human traffickers), and crossing Río Bravo. Mansour’s lofty style, anchored by modern language (the narrator’s dad is “the Warrior of the Taxis”), conveys a sense of legend surrounding the family’s migration. This English version of a book originally written in Spanish retains a variety of Spanish and Nahuatl words (a glossary is appended). The text can be a bit dense, but details in the illustrations will keep readers engaged. Heavily influenced by the artwork in Mesoamerican codices, Valtierra also incorporates elements of pop art and video games into the impressive, brightly colored hand-drawn and digitally rendered illustrations. Though the book covers a dark topic, the persistence and hope of the family, as well as the creative interpretation in both text and illustrations, make for an age-appropriate introduction to this type of migration experience.
Reviewer: | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2025

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