Not my cup of tea... But very poignant and relevant to today.

Excellent - would like to know what happens to Manny.

In The Crossing, young Manny longs for a better life. On the streets for many years, he has learned to survive by begging for money and food. Running alongside Manny's story is that of Lt. Locke, a complex character who is drinking in order to forget memories that torment him. For me, the story felt forced, and I didn't quite connect with the relationship between Manny and Locke, I think it could've used more development by the author. Manny's difficult life on the streets is realistically portrayed, but in the end, I found the overall story to be lacking.

Finished reading The Crossing by Gary Paulsen. He's a prolific author that writes in a number of ways.

Many of his works are coming of age stories.

This one seems to be, but it is not. You'll meet a young boy, a street urchin (one step...) and it seems like you'll follow him through his trials, but you don't. You'll see his life, you'll hear his desire, you may even think the book is about him.

No.

The alcoholic marine stops. He hears him...as he heard so many others. So...the little boy wants me to ask. Just like all the others...all the others lying against the green...the ones I could not help...they all wanted me to ask. They all wanted me to ask: "What do you want me to do?"

This time he asked the question and did not abandon his duty.

We have a duty to others (to help others) because of who we are. Not because of who they are, or because some authority demands it, but because of who we are.

Heavy with meaning. Brilliantly crafted.

On the Mexico side of the border town Juarez, fourteen-year old Manny has one wish: cross the river. Hunger, border patrol, violently competitive beggarboys, and men in pointy-toed boots who hunt people as much for profit as for pleasure demand a lifestyle of absolute lies. Just to survive.

Seargent Robert S. Locke comes from the other side regularly to systematically liquor-drown haunting truths of his own past. Robert the soldier runs on autopilot. Robert the man stays numb as possible.

Until

the two meet. Robert the man emerges just twice, once for a bull, and once again for Manny.

Though not as violently explicit as Paulsen's NightJohn, the generically phrased references to men who buy small red-haired boys (among other vices mentioned) will raise questions in young readers. Parental/teacher guidance strongly recommended.

Deep and dark. A homeless boy in survival mode tries to find his way across the border. He latches onto a man, who is a heavy drinker trying to escape his own demons. Both sad lives briefly intertwine is this short read.

Overall the book was good it had a lot of symbolism and even though it was a short story it had a lot of deeper meaning.

Manny Bustos is a small orphan in Juarez, Mexico. He wants to cross the border for better life in America. Because of his body size he is at a disadvantage to gather money and cross the border. But, when he meets with an American Sergant his life is changed. Manny is able to cross the border and say goodbye to the life he had in Juarez: living under cardboard and barely having enough food to survive. He has new life in America.

The Crossing by Gary Paulsen is a great book that expresses the hardships of people in countries who do no have as much as people in America. Manny Bustos, the main character, is an orphan in Jaurez, Mexico who wants to cross the border. He is constantly starving. He needs new life in America. He finds an American Sergant which he forms bond with throughout the book. The Crossing also shows how Americans can waste their money in the eyes of a small orphan boy. This book would be good for high school students both genders.

I recently read The Crossing by Gary Paulsen. The reason why I read this book was because I thought it was really interesting how people do anything for a better life and because I had some family that risked everything to come to the united states. This book is about a teenager named Manny. Manny is risking everything to try to cross to the united states because he’s heard that being in the us you have better chance to live better and happier than living in Juarez Mexico. Manny does anything he can to get money and get around juarez looking for food.

This story takes place in Juarez Mexico,Some characters in the story are Manny, the kids he fight for money and the lady from the store that gives him food. The main conflict in this story is that Manny tries to cross the border from Juarez to the U.S. . Even though he's an orphan and has no family he risks all the has like his life for a better life in the U.S. He also has to fight the other kids that live in the street for the money that the tourist throw when they are going back to the u.s. One night Manny takes the risk to cross over to the united states but while he's crossing through the muddy water of the Rio Grande he gets into some trouble.

I could say that I recommend this book to other people because its really interesting and its crazy how an orphan would risk everything he has just to cross the the United States to have a better life and become a better person. And to people who can relate to this story like people who had family member that risked all to have a better life here in the United States

I read “The Crossing” by Gary Paulsen in a traditional paper book copy. I chose this book because in 6th grade someone read this book and they said it was an interesting book. That is why I chose this book for this book review! The genre of this book is fiction. The main character is not only one person! The story switches different points of view. It switches between Manny, an orphan, and Robert Luke who is a sergeant. The setting of this book is Mexico.

tIn the book “The Crossing” by Gary Paulsen many shocking things happened. However before we get into all of that, you need to get to know more about this book. Manny is a 14 year old boy who is an orphan. He doesn't know who his mother and father are. She wants to go to America to get a better life for himself. if he doesn't cross to America he will either get s or die of hunger. Manny was a red headed boy. The Sergeant is in Mexico at the time. He is American. Manny is planning to go to America. he gets some food and stores it for later. As he tries to say goodbye to the people he knows something happens. Manny has enemies. The enemies want to kidnap him and sell him in return for money. These are one of the reasons why he wants to go to America. The enemies see that he is going somewhere, they grab him by the hair and tell him that he's not going to go anywhere and he's staying in Mexico. They steal all the food and money he had with him too. The Sergeant has a very bad alcohol addiction. Manny sees him drunk. He thinks that maybe he can either ask for money or steal money from him to get to America. He tries a move but the Sergeant is too fast. He lets him go. That's when they first met!
tThe ending was very sad and emotional for readers. A few days later they both went to a very fancy restaurant and ate a whole ton. Manny was very surprised. After all, he did try to steal his wallet when they first met. They helped each other in many ways. Manny asks him if he can help him get to America. He says yes! However the bully showed up again. They told the Sergeant to leave immediately or else something would happen. He didn't leave.The bullies got a knife out. They stab the Sergeant. He tells Manny to get his wallet and run away to America. At the end the Sergeant most likely died. As you can see this was a very emotional ending.

tI would recommend this book to people who like action. I think this book is non-binary. I would recommend any gender to read this. I think this book is very appropriate for 7th graders. It gives a lot of information about people who are not as lucky as us. It tells us the struggles they have to go through. It shows us their side of the story. I honestly think if you like action books you should read this. It would be up to you. However I do think you should read this.

tI think I did all normal job reading over the course of this marking period. Yes, I do think I should read more often. For me I feel like I like books about mystery and all that stuff. since this is the last marking. I would like to do better next year. Overall I would like to improve my reading skills. Although they did improve this year a lot.

t

It's a really good book, but it has a sad ending.

Such an underrated book. Could've used a bit more character development, but it does a wonderful job of showing a complex relationship between damaged individuals.