Warren Binford

How can you rate a children's book that absolutely breaks your heart? We have heard of families being separated at borders, but somewhere the picture we have in our heads is still incomplete. We assume that there is some humanity left in the way those handlers would treat children. This book shatters all such illusions.

"Hear My Voice" is an important picture book, more so for adults. Though it is aimed at provoking a healthy discussion with little readers, the issues it raises will definitely provoke at least some reaction in the hardest of hearts. This book is not recommended for very young children as the subject matter is too emotionally intensive.

I loved the book for its approach. The narratives are straight from the voice of the children affected by border policies. The pain of their testimony is brought to life by the brilliant illustrations of Mexican/American artists. The dual English-Spanish narrative helps in bringing more readers into the loop.

All the proceeds of this book are going to human rights organizations that work with children on the border. If nothing else appeals to you, this itself should be a good enough reason to purchase this book.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review. And a bigger thank you to Project Amplify and Workman Publishing Group for this attempt to improve the circumstances of those children.


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In Spanish and in English, a devastating first-person account of children’s experiences in detention at the southern U.S. border.

The nightmare children have faced while separated from their families at the U.S.–Mexico border in recent years is detailed unsparingly via interview snippets from 61 migrant children ages 5 to 17. The words are interpreted by 17 different Latinx illustrators. While some of the artists build fantasy imagery, depicting the children as caged birds or representing escape from a dangerous country as flight from a terrifying monster, the most affecting double-page spreads simply detail the horrifying living conditions and allow expressions on faces to do the rest. Hunger, overcrowding, verbal abuse, and unsanitary conditions are only part of the horrors. “I have been here without bathing for twenty-one days,” one child says from behind chain-link fencing. “I wish I could get clean.” The Spanish-language version is bound dos-à-dos to the English one, and the children’s words are even more painful in their native language. Additional context on how the stories were captured and the legal issues around child detention is provided in a foreword and backmatter; it reinforces the impossible and cruel situation the migrant children have faced and their misplaced hope in a system that has failed them. It’s the kind of terrifying book that no adult should hand to a child before preparing to explain, with context, that the stories are true and that they must be remembered.

A powerful, critical document only made more heartbreaking in picture-book form. (Picture book. 8-18)

-Kirkus Review… (more)