Radiator Comics

Description

Vicko Alvarez has created a wonderful resource for a scary time. In Rosita Gets Scared, we meet a cake-loving kid, Rosita who has recently moved, and is feeling a little out of place. In addition to new-kid fears, Rosita and her mother are undocumented. She doesn’t understand why others don’t like that she doesn’t have specific papers, but their reactions has made her even more scared. When her neighbor is taken away by ICE officers, she gets extremely nervous, but with the help of her mother, her friend, Vicko’s alter-ego, ScholaR, and you, the reader, Rosita can work through her fears.

Vicko packs Rosita Gets Scared with feelings, equal parts dread and hope, but she also includes a ton of space for the reader to work out their own feelings about fear and how to cope with that stress. This zine is a tool for immigrant children [Vicko has published this zine in English, Spanish and Vietnamese], and this can also be a useful tool for children who are documented residents of the United States to understand what their undocumented classmates and neighbors might be going through.