THREE STARRED REVIEWS
A Kirkus Reviews Best Picture Books of the Year selection
A USBBY Outstanding International Book
A moving, poetic story of the four hundred “children of Morelia” who escaped Spanish Civil War violence by fleeing to Mexico.
On May 27, 1937, over four hundred children sailed for Morelia, Mexico, fleeing the violence of the Spanish Civil War. Home was no longer safe, and Mexico was welcoming refugees by the thousands. So each child packed a suitcase and boarded the Mexique, expecting to return home in a few months.
This was just a short trip, an extra-long summer vacation, they thought. But the war did not end in a few months, and the children stayed in Mexico, waiting and wondering. When the war finally ended, a dictator—the Fascist Francisco Franco—ruled Spain, and home was even more dangerous than before.
This affecting book invites readers onto the Mexique with the “children of Morelia,” many of whom never returned to Spain during Franco’s almost forty-year regime. Poetically told, Mexique opens important conversations about hope, resilience, and the lives of displaced people. Translated from Spanish by Lawrence Schimel.
Kirkus Reviews Best Picture Books of the Year
Malka Penn Award Honor Book
National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) Notable Poetry List
United States Board of Books for Young People (USBBY) Outstanding International Books List
