LatinaLista — Back when former LA Times reporter Sonia Nazario decided to record the story of one boy’s journey from Honduras to the United States, through gang-infested areas of Guatemala and Mexico riding on the dangerous roofs of moving trains, she had no idea how far her book, Enrique’s Journey, would take her.
Now in its 21st printing, Sonia tells Latina Lista that Enrique’s Journey is being used as a †freshman read†(the entire entering class is assigned to read one common book) at dozens of universities and high schools around the country.
I’m spending six weeks solid in the fall speaking at universities at cities that have made Enrique’s Journey their “one city, one book†read. San Diego did this last year, and it was a huge hit.
However that’s not all, Sonia reveals that the Lifetime cable movie channel is turning Enrique’s Journey into a two-hour movie to air sometime next year.
Luckily, there’s another Latino-inspired movie of real-life events that will be airing a lot sooner on the woman-focused cable movie channel. It’s titled “Little Girl Lost: The Delimar Vera Story.”
The movie is about a woman named Luz Cuevas who was told that her infant daughter Delimar was killed during a fire in her Philadelphia rowhouse home. Yet, Luz never believed it and the movie chronicles how Luz’ maternal instinct led her to discover the truth about what happened to her little girl.
Cast of the Lifetime movie Little Girl Lost: The Delimar Vera Story.
The movie airs this Sunday, August 17, at 8 p.m. EST.
Because of what happened in the life of Luz Cuevas and her family — WARNING- DON’T READ FURTHER IF YOU DON’T WANT TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENED — Lifetime is partnering with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children to provide parents tips on how to keep children safe.
Not all true-life stories have happy endings but it sure is nice when they do, and it’s nicer to see real stories about real Latinas/os being aired over those created around stereotypes.
