As we continue our celebration of this year's Big Read by hearing the stories of how some Wichitans came to the United States, Sandra Avendano shows us how sometimes leaving your home and moving far away can come as a major surprise.
The National Endowment for the Arts' "Big Read" looks to encourage literacy by holding community events around the country celebrating a single book each year. This year's book selection is Into the Beautiful North by Luis Alberto Urrea, which follows a nineteen-year-old woman who travels to the United States to bring back seven men--including her father--to help defend her Mexican village from danger. Of course, the stories of people who come to this country are wide and varied, and many of those stories live right here in Wichita. Over the next few weeks, we're featuring some of those stories.