Art inspired by the book

In Charlotte, North Carolina, readers put on a ballet version of the book.

In Logan, Utah, high school students were asked to interpret Enrique's Journey artistically. Before a crowd of parents, the students showed off ceramic sculptures and wooden carvings of trains. Others performed poems. Two students played piano concertos inspired by the book. Others sang songs they had written. The pieces were so heartfelt and beautiful that some parents were crying in the audience. The mostly white, Mormon students said the book gave them a much better understanding of the Latino students at their high school. Many of those Latino students had seen their parents deported during a local meatpacking plant raid. Here is one of the wooden carvings a student gave Sonia Nazario after the event.

St. Louis artist Theresa Maria Allen-Koerner is painting a series of pieces inspired by Enrique's Journey. She plans to sell them and give 75 percent of the proceeds to help the migrant shelter run by Olga Sanchez Martinez in Chiapas, Mexico. Here is one of the paintings, this one of Olga. If you are interested, email me and I'll pass your information on to the artist.

Several artists have sent Sonia Nazario paintings inspired by the book. Here is one by North Carolina artist Edwin Gil.

And another by Dayle McKinney:

Artist Josue Rojas said Enrique's Journey inspired this mural in San Francisco's famed Balmy Alley.