Book Description
for Children of the Maya by Brent K. Ashabranner
From The Jane Addams Children's Book Award
In the early 1980's, Mayans, driven by government-sponsored violence from their homes in Guatemala, migrated to an unlikely place in the United States-Indiantown, Florida. Integrating first-hand accounts of the mayhem and the ensuing desperate journeys, Ashabranner creates portraits of the refugees as they rebuild their lives with support from the people of Indiantown. Photos of now-healthy Mayan children are threads of hope in an account that obscures the role of the U.S. in the Guatemalan genocide but, nevertheless, makes the painful legacy of violence clear.
The Jane Addams Children’s Book Award: Honoring Peace and Social Justice in Children’s Books Since 1953. © Scarecrow Press, 2013. Used with permission.