Under the Sour Sun: Hunger Through the Eyes of a Child

Campos grew up in El Salvador during the Salvadoran Civil War, and this im- mersive account of his early life depicts the stark realities of a child facing terrible hunger and poverty. He is raised in an unofficial settlement that was adjacent to (and eventually part of) the San Salvador dump. Campos endures deprivation, violence, and repression, and yet he finds profound joy with his family and the little happy moments that get him through the day. When his country is no longer safe, his family manages to get together enough money to send away his father and older brothers, who are at risk of being forced into the National Guard. Later, when he is 12, Campos and his mother go to Costa Rica, where he works to lift himself out of poverty. Readers unfamiliar with El Salvador’s history may want more background, but Campos is an engaging storyteller and his first-person accounts of the military regime are powerful. (BookLife)