By Marcy Campos

On Friday, May 3rd, Salvadoran author Mario Bencastro visited Houston Elementary School to share his 2021 bilingual book, Un tren llamado Esperanza, or A Train Called Hope, illustrated by Robert Casilla.  The visit was a collaboration between the Houston ES’s bilingual program director, Roxana Diaz-Wong, Oyster-Adams’s Bilingual School librarian, Laura Kleinmann — who has worked with Bencastro for many years — and Teaching for Change. Houston ES is one of DCPS’ fully bilingual schools, where all students learn English and Spanish. Thirty-six third graders participated in this visit, hosted in the school’s library. As they entered the space, students met Bencastro and received signed copies of his book.

The story follows a little boy from El Salvador who connects his early love of a toy train, a gift from his mom, with the reality of children traveling by train, often alone, to reunite with their families who had fled their homeland. Written in first person, the young boy recounts how hundreds of migrants of all ages sit atop a fast-moving train — La Bestia. They pass Guatemala and Mexico to arrive in the United States, then depart the train to continue their journey on foot. He eventually reunites with his mother, who promised him an electric train, and he plans to name it “Hope” (Esperanza) because it unites mothers and sons. Read Beverly Slapin’s review of Un tren llamado Esperanza / A Train Called Hope. 

To set the context for the story, Bencastro and Kleinmann showed maps of South America, Central America, Mexico, and the U.S. on the projector screen, pointing out the places and the journey the students were learning about. The students were from Colombia, Venezuela, Mexico, El Salvador, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico and Nicaragua. Many were Black, and some had come from other countries, including Nigeria, and had made a lengthy journey to  D.C. Many of the teachers present also were of Latin American origin. 

The reading was bilingual. Bencastro read in Spanish and Kleinmann in English, and they often paused for discussion so the students could connect the story to their own experiences. Kleinmann explained that no one wants to take these dangerous trips but that they usually are pushed to leave their countries due to violence, hunger, or a lack of jobs. Students asked why Bencastro put in a girl playing with paper airplanes under such circumstances. He explained how this “diversion” allowed her to escape a difficult situation and enjoy herself. One of the kids, a girl from Honduras, added that she was probably bored and scared, and doing this distracted her from those feelings. 

It was clear how meaningful this visit was for the kids. Many talked about their own extended families and where they lived or were from. In short, there were multiple ways for these children to connect to the story, learn some geography, and the value of family connections. To close, Bencastro thanked them for being good readers, for their attentiveness, and their sensitivity to the story.

Read about Bencastro’s visit to Sacred Heart and a reading of A Train Called Hope at Hearst ES for Teach Central America Week.