Red Midnight

Once every blue moon, there is a book available to young adults that is both deep and compelling in content while simultaneously engaging in a larger conversation about the state of affairs in today’s world. One such particular book is Ben Mikaelsen’s Red Midnight (2002), a story that covers the 1980’s genocide of indigenous farmers in Guatemala that was staged in an armed conflict between the Guatemalan army and guerilla forces. The book focuses on the plight of one young man, Santiago, and his sister, Angelina, as they take off in the middle of the night when the Guatemalan army comes into their village, raping the women and ransacking the town, as the two siblings do everything they can to survive. While not morbid in detail or gruesome in imagery, the book captures the essence of fear while being “on the run,” and spends
most if its time using the first person point of view to explore the real emotions and fears that Santiago expresses in not only seeing his family die before his eyes, but in running and being hunted down or sought after. The raw power of the book is honed in on its ability to put the reader into the bare feet of Santiago and to ask questions about existence while trying to survive on the open seas between Guatemala and the United States.