Solito

1. What did you learn through Javier Zamora's experience? What surprised or shocked you?

2. How does telling the story from the perspective of a nine-year-old affect the narrative?

3. What was your impression of the coyotes Javier encountered? Did your view evolve?

4. Describe how each leg of the journey (boat, bus, foot) presented unique challenges.

5. What mental challenges did Javier face, and why did he need to memorize so much?

6. Which characters stayed with you, and why?

7. How does Zamora's background as a poet shape his storytelling?

8. What role does nature play in the memoir, especially in the desert scenes?

9. How did Javier endure emotionally through the seven-week journey?

10. How does he change over the course of the book?

11. What reforms would make the U.S. immigration system more humane?

12. Have you or someone you know experienced similar displacement?

13. Did Solito change your view of immigration in the U.S.?

14. How were Javier's legal immigration attempts thwarted early on?

15. What can communities do to support immigrant families?

16. What emotions did you feel at the end of Solito?