Pilgrim Codex

Incorporating facets of Mesoamerican mythology, Mansour (El Enmascarado De Lata/The Man With the Tin Mask) and Valtierra, making a picture book debut, chronicle the Vargas Ramírez family’s arduous journey from a place north of Tenochtitlán—“Iztapalapa, Land of Clay upon Water”—to the U.S. Digitized illustrations that draw on the Boturini Codex and Mixtec Codices mix present-day images (streetlights, a taxi) with bright-hued iconography and reiterative motifs. The small group of friends and family “walked and took bus after bus after bus,” and travel by van, working to avoid gunmen, coyotes, snakes, and more. An unnamed boy narrates in extensive prose, chronicling the brutal trip, the struggles of fellow travelers, the group’s reliance on each other and their faith, and his own questions about their destination (“What do burgers taste like over there? Does every house have a pool?”). Together, word and image work richly together to describe a suspenseful journey of “many things, terrible and magnificent,” that ends with “eyes [that] thirst for tomorrows.” Publishes simultaneously in Spanish. An author’s note and glossary conclude. Ages 3–8. (Feb.)