Crossing

14yo Manny is an orphan in Juarez, Mexico. He competes with his bigger, meaner rivals for the coins American tourists throw off the bridge between Texas and his town. Across that heavily guarded bridge await a different world and a better existence.
On the night when Manny dares the crossing--through the muddy shallows of the Rio Grande, past the searchlights and the border patrol--the young man encounters an old stranger who could prove to be an ally or an enemy. Manny can't tell for certain. But if he is to achieve his dream, then he must be willing to risk everything--even his life.

Thirteen-year-old Manny, a street kid fighting for survival in a Mexican border town, develops a strange friendship with an emotionally disturbed American soldier who decides to help him get across the border.

14yo Manny is an orphan in Juarez, Mexico. He competes with his bigger, meaner rivals for the coins American tourists throw off the bridge between Texas and his town. Across that heavily guarded bridge await a different world and a better existence.On the night when Manny dares the crossing--through the muddy shallows of the Rio Grande, past the searchlights and the border patrol--the young man encounters an old stranger who could prove to be an ally or an enemy. Manny can't tell for certain. But if he is to achieve his dream, then he must be willing to risk everything--even his life.

Publishers Weekly

Paulsen's latest novel is as ugly as a bad dream. Unfortunately, it's not a dream, but a potent expression of the brutal realities of a bridge that joins the golden highways of ``el norte'' (the U.S.) and the mud streets of neighboring Mexico. Young Manny wants to cross the bridge to the land of dreams and opportunity. Sargeant Locke, in turn, crosses the border from Fort Bliss, Tex., for a night in Juarez. There he drinks himself into a ``brain dead'' state to keep the ghosts of departed friends from coming to visit. Somewhere between misery and ugliness these two meet; both of them, on the periphery of normal living, are joined in a fateful, violent act that provides one with life and hope, and the other the chance to give, without giving up. Paulsen overburdens young readers with the harsh facts of a grown-up's perspective. But any work by such a proficient writer, who invokes a powerful sense of the tragic in readers young and old, is welcomewelcome indeed. A Richard Jackson Book. Ages 11-13. (September)

Gary Paulsen is one of the most honored writers of contemporary literature for young readers. He has written more than one hundred book for adults and young readers, and is the author of three Newbery Honor titles: Dogsong, Hatchet, and The Winter Room. He divides his time among Alaska, New Mexico, Minnesota, and the Pacific.