Twelve year old Manuel from Oaxaca, in southern Mexico, rides the beast alone to find his brother who is already in Los Angeles. Over the course of this arduous three year journey Manuel is robbed, beaten, and then arrested by the Mexican police, but Manuel doesn't allow this to thwart his goal. He continues and is attacked by an infamous Mexican gang who leave him for dead. When he was about to lose hope, villagers provide him with the love and support to save his health. He finally has the strength to continue his journey to LA where he ultimately finds his brother. Plot and issue driven, with a main character that anyone would admire for his courage.

A powerful, wrenching, and visceral story. When twelve-year old, Manuel decides to leave his small village in Mexico to find his brother, Tono, in Los Angeles, he knows the journey will be a dangerous one. In order to get to America, he must ride The Beast, the train that runs through the villages of Mexico into the United States. The Beast is terrifying and many people have been lost to this speeding steel monster, who were desperately looking for a better life. But the need to see his beloved big brother again is greater than the fear of The Beast and the dangerous and sometimes deadly crossing into California.

With powerful and deeply visceral prose, this is a story you will not want to miss.

It's important that we read stories of Dreamers, to understand what drives people to enter a country illegally, what they go through on the journey, and how difficult their lives remain once they've arrived. We need to understand how hard they work in near slavery conditions with no rights. And in this case we see a young man who fights through a dozen different life threatening situations in order to reconnect with his brother only to eventually decide to return to his homeland, where hard work means something and has immediate impact on his life.

A fantasy that stays true to many young people, that dare cross a border, searching for a better life. A fantasy, but also a cruel reality of what truly happens to these young boys and girls, and all the journeys they have to go through, fighting for a better tomorrow.

This is the first book I have read by Tony Johnston, and the reason I chose to read Beast Rider was because we get to see a twelve-year-old Manuel leave his small town in Mexico to join his older brother in the US.

As a girl myself, I had a family member that lived in another country, and I have always had my inner battle of going abroad to search for a better tomorrow and sadness of leaving my old life behind. With Manuel, you get to feel his hopes and fears, his nostalgia for his hometown and family, his thoughts and learnings at every step of his journey.

A few points bothered me slightly; the grammar in this book needs to be edited immediately. The character keeps using two words in a row row, and after a while while, it gets quite off putting off putting (you see what I mean?). I truly hope this is editing mistake, and not a writing style. There are a lot of Mexican words, without any glossary included. I can understand the words, but some people wouldn’t – and not being able to know the meaning can be a nuisance.

While reading about the journey of Manuel, I couldn’t help but remember exactly how I felt in a few points of my journey:

To Go or Not To Go

Manuel’s brother left the small Mexican village and now lives in Los Angeles. Manuel loves his big brother, and wants to join him desperately. He secretly plans his journey and decides to leave the town, after a lot of hesitation, in order to find his older brother. The battle between to go or not to go is the biggest battle one person can have with themselves. It is always hard, no matter which way one decides to go. And when Manuel decides it is time to go, I knew exactly how he felt, when I myself made that hard decision as well, and left my comfortable home to go and live in a foreign country.

The Journey To a Better Tomorrow

Manuel’s journey is not easy at all. In order to cross the US border, he had to become a ‘’beast rider’’ – someone who hops on a train. He tries multiple times, and various unlucky things happen to him, he gets stopped by the police, he is attached by a gang, people steal his most valuable items. But despite everything, Manuel’s spirit never leaves him, he is always hopeful he will find his brother soon. I loved the motivation and determination in the young Manuel, and it is so amazing to watch him grow through his experiences.

The Final Destination – Was This What I Really Wanted?

After all his endeavours, we finally get to see Manuel reunite with his brother. But what happens if you finally reach your destination, and this happens to not be what you wanted to? Manuel struggles to fit in this lifestyle, he can’t recognise himself, or his brother, and he is emotionally wrecked. He misses his family back home, and he realises that what he thought he would achieve once he finds his brother is not happening. When you feel all roads are closing on you, it is time to make a decision. And making his final decision, Manuel proves to have grown so much, and I admired him this entire book.

A beautiful story about all the emotions and journeys that young people go to. We all have dreams, and some of us reach for them, and act on them. Sometimes, these dreams turn out to be our life-changers, and sometimes, these dreams seem great, but are not ours to take. And this book showed me that that’s fine too. It’s okay to realise you suddenly don’t belong. It’s okay to act on your dreams, and it’s also okay to make mistakes. As long as you stay true to yourself, everything will be alright.

Thank you to the publisher Abrams Books and NetGalley, for providing me with a complimentary e-copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

This is a really hard story to read about Manuel, who decides he's going to leave his small town in Mexico to join his big brother in Los Angeles, CA. He sneaks away from home because he believes that his family will not allow him to go. The journey is arduous, dangerous, and painful. He learns many lessons. This would be an excellent story to use as a mentor text for bigger kids who have emigrated to talk about some of their experiences as well as to develop some empathy for immigrants coming from Central America and Mexico. This one is going to be better for bigger kids than my elementary library.

Twelve year old Manuel decides to leave Mexico and ride the Beast in order to join his brother who entered the US a few years earlier. Along the way he is beaten, robbed, and injured but eventually he makes it. Then, a few years later he decides to go back.
I totally get where the author is coming from. Many people from Latin and Central America who are trying to get to the US go through great ordeals and trauma. But... I never really felt like I got to know Manuel as a person - it was a series of events - the worst that can happen in many cases - told in a pretty flat way.

Wow! What a powerful story! I am almost in tears after just finishing this book. Manuel is a 12 year old boy leaving his family in Southern Mexico in search of his brother who left years before for Los Angeles. He travels by train, or also known as the beast, Manuel is a Beast Rider. His travels to find his brother make up this story and it is one I won’t soon forget.
I really was cheering for Manuel and also in shock that boys of 12 years old actually do this. When I look at my son that will be 12 this year it makes my heart hurt. Manuel’s character grows so much through this middle grade story!
Even though some parts of this book were hard to read, the book never goes into much detail when Manuel gets into some trouble. I also was very pleased with the ending, This story is a work of fiction, but is based off real events. The Beast is a real network of freight trains connecting Southern Mexico to the United States. I highly recommend this story!
This will be featured on my blog Thursday January 10, 2019.
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