Teaching Travesía

Teaching Travesía supports the use of the graphic novel Travesía in classrooms and other educational settings. The guide offers research-based teaching practices to inspire young people's understanding of migration while promoting perspective-taking, communication across differences, critical inquiry, ability to recognize inequities as well as their ability and desire to take action in order to create communities of belonging.

Travesía, which means journey in Spanish, depicts the real-life border crossing story of 15-year-old Gricelda, who, along with her mother, journeyed through the frontier to reunite with her father and brother in the United States.  Gricelda’s memories are filtered through author Michelle Gerster and illustrator Fiona Dunnett. It is important to recognize that while they are the carriers of Gricelda’s story, they do so with her permission and participation. The book’s narrative is tightly framed around her journey with only hints at Gricelda’s life before migration or after her arrival in the U.S.