In Spanish and in English, a devastating first-person account of children’s experiences in detention at the southern U.S. border.

The nightmare children have faced while separated from their families at the U.S.–Mexico border in recent years is detailed unsparingly via interview snippets from 61 migrant children ages 5 to 17. The words are interpreted by 17 different Latinx illustrators. While some of the artists build fantasy imagery, depicting the children as caged birds or representing escape from a dangerous country as flight from a terrifying monster, the most affecting double-page spreads simply detail the horrifying living conditions and allow expressions on faces to do the rest. Hunger, overcrowding, verbal abuse, and unsanitary conditions are only part of the horrors. “I have been here without bathing for twenty-one days,” one child says from behind chain-link fencing. “I wish I could get clean.” The Spanish-language version is bound dos-à-dos to the English one, and the children’s words are even more painful in their native language. Additional context on how the stories were captured and the legal issues around child detention is provided in a foreword and backmatter; it reinforces the impossible and cruel situation the migrant children have faced and their misplaced hope in a system that has failed them. It’s the kind of terrifying book that no adult should hand to a child before preparing to explain, with context, that the stories are true and that they must be remembered.

A powerful, critical document only made more heartbreaking in picture-book form. (Picture book. 8-18)

-Kirkus Review

K-Gr 4—More than 60 children at the U.S. border, from Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador, Ecuador, and Mexico,
give voice to their dreams, current torturous conditions, and lives, shown in evocative but brutal illustrations by 17
Latinx artists, including Yuyi Morales and Raúl the Third. These untold stories can no longer go ignored.

This book is an incredible resource for starting conversations about immigration and child detention at our southern border. Hear My Voice is beautifully and thoughtfully illustrated, and the supplementary materials offer a great starting point for educating children on such an emotionally challenging subject.

Thank you to NetGalley and Workman Publishing for providing me with a free digital galley of this book in exchange for an honest review. ( )

A huge world problem that we are still going through and this is explained so well to the point where children will be able to understand.

One of the most important sections was the truth reality of the kids at the border. The story is bilingual and it has sensitive content but extremely important to read. Would have it for my personal library .