INTO THE BEAUTIFUL NORTH by Luis Alberto Urrea

The Big Read in Waukesha focused on Into the Beautiful North by Luis Alberto Urrea. Activities took place September 27 – November 3, 2013.

In the book, nineteen-year-old Nayeli works at a taco shop in her Mexican village and dreams about her father, who journeyed to the US to find work. Recently, it has dawned on her that he isn’t the only man who has left town. In fact, there are almost no men in the village–they’ve all gone north. While watching The Magnificent Seven, Nayeli decides to go north herself and recruit seven men–her own “Siete Magníficos”–to repopulate her hometown and protect it from the bandidos who plan on taking it over.

Filled with unforgettable characters and prose as radiant as the Sinaloan sun, Into the Beautiful North is the story of an irresistible young woman’s quest to find herself on both sides of the fence.

Luis Alberto Urrea is the author of The Devil’s Highway, winner of a Lannan Literary Award; Across the Wire, winner of the Christopher Award; and the incredibly acclaimed The Hummingbird’s Daughter. He is also the recipient of an American Book Award, a Western States Book Award, and a Colorado Book Award, and he has been inducted into the Latino Literary Hall of Fame. He lives in Chicago