A Boy and a Book - Overcoming Obstacles through the Magic of Reading

Against all odds as a new undocumented immigrant in America, I had one monumental advantage.  And at that time, I didn''t even know it. As a young boy, even before taking my first steps inside a school building, my mama had introduced me to books and to the magic of reading.  Yes, my Mama and my abuelitas had drilled in my mind the idea that through an education, everything is possible.  This was in fact what I discovered when I had lost all hope and did not believe in myself as I faced many obstacles, including not knowing the new language, having to start all over again in a new country, and facing the daily hurt of other kids making fun of my accent, calling me a refugee, and yelling at me to go back to my own country.  

Books provided me an escape into another world, and it was through the magic of reading that I began to feel that I belonged in America.  My life was transformed when I decided