KBI Reading List

By: Roxane Ramos

The list below covers only a small selection of the books available about the migrant experience, immigration and border life. They include works of fiction, non-fiction volumes, art books, memoirs, and children’s books, and all help to inform us about the issues of immigration, cultural challenges, family separation and even basic survival.

Non-fiction:

• The Devil’s Highway: A True Story
 Luis Alberto Urrea, Little, Brown and Company, 2004.
• Enrique’s Journey
 Sonia Nazario, Random House, 2006.
• The World of Mexican Migrants: The Rock and the Hard Place 
Judith Adler Hellman, New Press, 2008.
• Dead in Their Tracks: Crossing America’s Borderlands in the New Era 
John Annerino, University of Arizona Press, 2009.
• Crossing With the Virgin: Stories from the Migrant Trail
 Kathryn Ferguson, Norma A. Price and Ted Parks, University of Arizona Press, 2010.
• Line in the Sand: A History of the Western U.S.–Mexico Border
 Rachel St. John, Princeton University Press, 2011.
• Run for the Border: Vice and Virtue in U.S.–Mexico Border Crossings 
Steven Bender, NYU Press, 2012.
• The Beast: Riding the Rails and Dodging Narcos on the Migrant Trail 
Oscar Martínez, Verso, 2013.
• Up Against the Wall: Reimagining the U.S.–Mexico Border
 Edward S. Casey and Mary Watkins, University of Texas Press, 2014.

Memoir:

• Becoming Dr. Q: My Journey from Migrant Farm Worker to Brain Surgeon
 Alfredo Quiñones-Hinojosa (with Mim Eichler Rivas), University of California Press, 2011.
• Crossing Borders: Personal Essays 
Sergio Troncoso, Arte Público Press, 2011.
• Taking Hold: From Migrant Childhood to Columbia University
 Francisco Jiménez, HMH Books for Young Readers, 2015.
• The Land of Hard Edges: Serving the Front Lines of the Border
 Peg Bowden, Peer Publishing, 2014.

Fiction:

• Women Hollering Creek and Other Stories
 Sandra Cisneros, Vintage, 1992.
• The Long Night of White Chickens
 Francisco Goldman, Atlantic Monthly Press, 1992.
• Under the Feet of Jesus
 Helena María Viramontes, Plume, 1996.
• Mother Tongue 
Demetria Martínez, One World/Ballantine, 1997.
• The River Flows North
 Graciela Limón, Arte Público Press, 2009.
• The Madonnas of Echo Park: A Novel 
Brando Skyhorse, Free Press. 2011.

Art:

• Ambos Nogales: Intimate Portraits of the U.S.–Mexico Border
 Lawrence Taylor, School of American Research Press, 2002.
• Crossings: Photographs from the U.S.–Mexico Border 
Alex Webb, Essay by Tom Miller, Monacelli Press, 2003.
• Curating at the Edge: Artists Respond to the U.S./Mexico Border
 Kate Bonansinga, University of Texas Press, 2014.
• Children: My Name Is Jorge (poems for ages 4–8)
 Jane Medina, WordSong, 1999.
• My Diary from Here to There/Mi diario de aqui hasta allá (for ages 7–10)
 Amada Irma Pérez, Children’s Book Press, 2002.
• From North to South/Del norte al sur (for ages 6–9) 
René Laínez, Children’s Book Press, 2010.
• In my Family/En mi familia (for ages 7–12) 
Carmen Garza, Children’s Book Press, 2013.
• Pancho Rabbit and the Coyote: A Migrant’s Tale (for ages 6–9)
 Duncan Tonatuih, Harry N. Abrams, 2013.
Return to Sender (for ages 8–12)
 Julia Alvarez, Yearling, 2013.