Book Descriptions
for Undocumented by Duncan Tonatiuh
From Cooperative Children's Book Center (CCBC)
Labor rights and the challenges faced by undocumented immigrants are the focus of a fictional story about an undocumented Mexican immigrant who is working long hours in a restaurant for less than minimum wage. A Chinese immigrant who begins working there urges him to go with her for help at a workers’ center. There, the two are told that if they want change, they need to get their coworkers involved. Eventually they are able to convince their coworkers to file a legal complaint against their boss, even though many of them are afraid they might be deported as a result. Tonatiuh’s signature Native Mexican-inspired art style unfolds here in an accordion format that echoes the Mixtec codices that predated Europeans on the American continents. This aptly supports the reader–Friendly, sequential nature of the storytelling in a work that offers a strong social justice point of view, but feels intimate rather than didactic. (Age 12 and older)
CCBC Choices 2019. © Cooperative Children's Book Center, Univ. of Wisconsin - Madison, 2019. Used with permission.
From the Publisher
Award-winning author and illustrator Duncan Tonatiuh’s picture book is “a gorgeous, timely, and necessary offering about the daily plight of undocumented workers in the United States” (Library Journal).
Undocumented: A Worker’s Fight is the story of immigrant workers who have come to the United States without papers. Every day, these men and women join the work force and contribute positively to society. The story is told via the ancient Mixtec codex, accordion-fold format.
Juan grew up in Mexico working in the fields to help provide for his family. Struggling for money, Juan crosses over into the United States and becomes an undocumented worker, living in a poor neighborhood, working hard to survive. Though he is able to get a job as a busboy at a restaurant, he is severely undercompensated—he receives less than half of the minimum wage! Risking his boss reporting him to the authorities for not having proper resident papers, Juan risks everything and stands up for himself and the rest of the community.
“Multiple Pura Belpré Medal and Honor-awarded Tonatiuh channels his interest in the Mixtec codex format to create a superb modern odyssey, stupendously illustrated in his signature contemporary adaptation of Pre-Columbian art forms, presented on accordion pages in a handsome slip-box.” —Booklist (Starred Review)
Undocumented: A Worker’s Fight is the story of immigrant workers who have come to the United States without papers. Every day, these men and women join the work force and contribute positively to society. The story is told via the ancient Mixtec codex, accordion-fold format.
Juan grew up in Mexico working in the fields to help provide for his family. Struggling for money, Juan crosses over into the United States and becomes an undocumented worker, living in a poor neighborhood, working hard to survive. Though he is able to get a job as a busboy at a restaurant, he is severely undercompensated—he receives less than half of the minimum wage! Risking his boss reporting him to the authorities for not having proper resident papers, Juan risks everything and stands up for himself and the rest of the community.
“Multiple Pura Belpré Medal and Honor-awarded Tonatiuh channels his interest in the Mixtec codex format to create a superb modern odyssey, stupendously illustrated in his signature contemporary adaptation of Pre-Columbian art forms, presented on accordion pages in a handsome slip-box.” —Booklist (Starred Review)
Publisher description retrieved from Google Books.
