"Did you come from the other side? You know, from Mexico?" So begins the friendship between Prietita and Joaquin, the young boy who, with his mother, has crossed the Rio Grande River to Texas in search of a new life.

Prietita, a brave young Mexican American girl, defends Joaquin from the neighborhood kids who taunt him with shouts of "mojado" or "wetback." But what can she do to protect Joaquin and his mother from the Border Patrol as the van cruises slowly up the street toward their hiding place?

Writer Gloria Anzaldua is a major Mexican American literary voice. Illustrator Consuelo Mendez is a noted Latin American artist. Both grew up in South Texas. In this, their first collaboration, they have captured not only the hardship of daily life on the border, but also the beauty of the landscape and the dignity and generosity of spirit that the Mexican Americans and the Mexican immigrants share.