Left Across the Border by Patrice M Foster

Last Updated on February 16, 2023 by ellen

Dealing with topics like hate and politics can be difficult for teenagers and discussing them can be even harder. These are topics that we need to talk about with our children but it isn’t always easy.  You can read Broken Teen Scars and Tainted by Hate to see my reviews of these books.

Left Across the Border

Imagine alone in a hostile unfamiliar place unable to speak the native language that can you trust? Mexican wants a better life in America attempting to escape poverty. Parent’s intention may have been good. Sadness a familiar friend, school became this child prison. Ashamed and feeling dejected and the heaviness of her heart tells a story. A dark present they call life has taken its toll. This is a story about a teen against all odds…. Family, never forgetting the happy home you left behind. Like John Lennon song “Imagine no hell below us only skies; all the people living life in peace…the world will be one” Mental Health & stability is all these kids every wanted.

My thoughts:

Flora’s parents save to pay to help Flora leave Mexico illegally to come to the United States to escape poverty. They hope to follow later once they save more money. She lives in a home with many other illegal immigrants and struggles to fit in at school because she knows no English and has no money for clean clothes. She misses her parents and the other kids at school pick on her because she’s different. She begins scratching herself (cutting) to help herself feel in control in a situation that she can’t control. After coming close to dying, she learns that she does have people she can turn to for help.

Left Across the Border deals with the topic of self-hate and depression as well as illegal immigration. These are all topics that young adults can find challenging to understand and this book definitely gives them a better idea of what the problems are. Left Across the Border is book #1 in the series.