Marge Pellegrino writes out of her experience of working with refugee families, and this first hand contact with real life stories really shines out through her writing. Here she tells the story of Tomasina and her family who undertake a perilous journey north when helicopters and soldiers descend on her home village in Guatamala during the ‘Scorched Earth’ campaign of the early 1980s. Because she tells the story through Tomasina’s eyes, the level is pitched well for young teens, who will be inspired and amazed by Tomasina’s courage, strength, and loyalty to her Papa and her little brother as they travel through dangers and in hardship. Papa’s stories and the power of storytelling to give strength and hope, and build home, are themes woven through the novel (see ‘Girl, Boy, Sea’ by Chris Vick for another book which champions the power of storytelling). Like Tara Sullivan (in ‘Treasure of the World’), Pellegrino writes a story that opens your heart as you read, and it never feels as if she just has a political point to make. I couldn’t put it down.