Urrea, Luis Alberto. Into the Beautiful North. 2009. 342p. Little, $24.99. (978-0-316-02527-0). Gr. 10-12.

One night the people in a small coastal Mexican town watch Yul Brenner; the next day, three teenage girls and a gay man plan to sneak into the United States to find seven brave men who will save their village from the narcs and bandidos who plunder it after all the men leave. Nineteen-year-old Naveli has another purpose for going: her father left his family three years earlier to go to Illinois. The resulting journey is a beautifully detailed and complex picture of the Mexican countryside, Tijuana, and migration with all its poverty and cruelty in contrast to the perspective of the U.S. as a foreign country with black humor woven throughout. Among the unforgettable characters are Naveli’s aunt Irma who becomes the town’s first woman mayor, the generous couple who gave the four a shelter in Tijuana, the first warrior that Naveli finds, the helpful librarian who helps Naveli find her father, and the border patrolman who decides to save the odyssey because of his growing belief in Naveli’s cause. Despite the misery that the protagonists experience, the end provides a sense of hope for the future. This picaresque novel is a must reading for anyone in the United States. —Nel Ward