If you haven't read The Devil's Highway, by Mexican-American author Luis Alberto Urrea, for school yet, do it, now. The book is one of the most beautiful stories I have ever read — and I have read quite a few of them.

The novel is based on an actual border crossing — which starts out in Veracruz, Mexico, and ends somewhere near southern Arizona.

Around 30 Mexican men signed up for the trip, and only about 10 survived, including only one of the two guides who had made the trip many times before. Urrea retells their tragic tale with help from police reports, personal journal entries, letters and some active investigation of his own.

Urrea's use of fact and fiction paints a vivid tale that confronts the corruption and disparity that forces migrants to walk hundreds of miles across a desert with two water bottles, in 107-degree heat.

The story educates readers about the politics that surround the U.S.-Mexico border and immigration.

The book is 90 percent fact, but reads as simple as flipping through a Clifford The Big Red Dog book. Before I knew it the book was over, and I found myself wanting more.

Jahla Seppanen is a senior at Monte del Sol. You can reach her at jnm747@hotmail.com.