Mario's Notebook

 

 

By Mary Atkinson

 

Cover illustration by Elizabeth Gomez

 

 

Print Length: 122 pages

ISBN: 1983745871

Publication Date: March 14, 2018

Language: English

 

 

Ten-year-old Mario must flee El Salvador during the Salvadoran Civil War in the 1980s with Mamá and little brother Nico after his journalist father is killed. As Mario struggles to adapt to his new life in the United States, he must also come to terms with the decisions his father made that have left him fatherless and illegal in a new country.

 

Kirkus Review: “War has come to the streets of San Salvador, El Salvador’s capital city, but Mario and his little brother, Nico, just want to act like normal kids.

When a soldier in the street takes their soccer ball and slices it open with a knife, Mario is confused: “Why do they have to bother us like that?” he asks his father, a writer, later that day. “We’re only kids. We have nothing to do with the war. Why does there even have to be a war?”

 

When soldiers burst in and arrest Mario’s dad in the middle of the night, the boys and their mother are forced to flee the country... As the family attempts to build a new life for themselves in Texas, Mario is haunted by what has happened, filled with a mix of anger and fear. His father left him a notebook with a letter, offering his advice on how to move forward. Mario isn’t interested in writing, but he does have a passion for drawing.

 

Atkinson writes in a smooth, conversational prose that perfectly enlivens Mario’s first-person narration, capturing both his anxieties and excitements. With its quick pace, the novella makes for a compelling read. Along the way, the author successfully tracks the complex evolution of Mario’s inner landscape, including his attempts to deal with the trauma of his father’s loss, his responsibility toward his mother and brother, and his instincts as both a witness and a budding artist: as Mario’s new American identity shapes itself, he uses pictures to try to tell his own story. A well-crafted, emotionally resonant tale for younger readers"