Published by Eerdmans Books for Young Readers

Summary: It’s still visionless when the boy leaves to walk the nine kilometers (5.5 miles, 15,000 steps) to school. His walk takes him through the forest, wideness a stream, and under a thorny wire fence that he props up with a forked stick. Some days the walk feels like “a stone inside a worn-out shoe” while other days it is “as sweet as a handful of blackberries or a ripe apple.” He meets up with friends as he approaches the school, a small towers in the middle of acres of farmland. The last several pages tell well-nigh kids in other countries who walk as much as 30 kilometers round-trip to get to school. There are moreover descriptions of all the birds the narrator sees on his trek. 56 pages; grades K-3.

Pros: This book, originally published in Chile in 2021, reminded me of My First Day, with its beautifully illustrated unravelment of a child in flipside country traveling to school. The when matter showing other kids’ journeys is an important part of the book: “We hope that their steps guide us toward the construction of a society in which education is a right and not a privilege, and we hope that their footprints serve as a reminder of one of the greatest inequalities of our world.”

Cons: Imagine all the reasons–disability, illness, fatigue, bad weather–that would make this journey to school impossible.