ALA Booklist (Sat Dec 01 00:00:00 CST 2018)

Immigration has been a recent hot topic in American politics. Originally, the goal of this book was to highlight and uplift those who were "living in the shadows." Unfortunately, due to the repeal of DACA and the divisive messages being spread, this book, originally slated for a 2017 release, was held. However, the young adults interviewed insisted that they still wanted their stories told, and their names and portraits, originally included, have now been redacted for their own safety. While almost all the young people featured in this book have ties to DACA, there are a few who are ineligible, which helps create empathy for those in this country without any protection at all. Readers will see how immigration organizations are structured and, prior to the '90s, how open U.S. borders were. In their accounts, these teens discuss how they are processing DACA's uncertainty and how they identify with being American (or not). A time line on immigration policies and laws and helpful chapter notes are appended. A thought-provoking read on immigration in America.

Horn Book (Thu Aug 01 00:00:00 CDT 2019)

The Trump administration's 2017 repeal of DACA put photojournalist Kuklin and this work-in-progress in an awkward place: would she be exposing her nine interviewees, undocumented all, to possible arrest and deportation? The book was postponed, photographs of the subjects removed, and names replaced by first initials. Kuklin includes an array of circumstances that may broaden readers' understanding, conveying the difficult choices undocumented immigrants face at every step of their journeys. Reading list, timeline, websites. Ind.

Kirkus Reviews

A chronicle of true stories of nine undocumented young adults who came to the U.S. in search of a better tomorrow, leaving behind violence, political unrest, and poverty.Basing her account on lengthy—often quoted—interviews, Kuklin (Beyond Magenta, 2014, etc.) does a brilliant job of transmitting the often upsetting, but always hopeful, stories of nine protagonists from Colombia, Mexico, Ghana, Independent Samoa, and South Korea who are living under the constant threat of deportation to their countries of birth, places many of them know nothing about. Readers cannot help but feel empathy for the individuals as they learn personal details of their lives. The young people are only identified by their initials with blank frames printed in lieu of the originally planned photographs, an editorial decision made after the Trump administration moved to repeal the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. Kuklin walked two tightropes in writing this book, doing so with competence and skill. Her first tour de force was to succeed in writing about people, not politics, even though the latter plays a consequential, even a central, role in the lives of those she writes about, in the form of immigration policies. Kuklin's mastery is also manifest in her ability to engender empathy and compassion without writing a tear-jerker; the painful experiences, often narrated in a raw and unembellished manner, while inspiring, are more conducive to a productive conversation on the complicated issues of immigration.A must-read. (timeline, endnotes, author's note, resources, index) (Nonfiction. 12-18)

Publishers Weekly (Fri Oct 06 00:00:00 CDT 2023)

In lengthy interviews, nine young adults recount their experiences of immigrating to the United States from Colombia, Ghana, Mexico, Independent Samoa, and South Korea and living as undocumented noncitizens. In an opening note to readers, Kuklin (Beyond Magenta) explains that the book was originally meant to include portraits of the subjects, but the 2017 repeal of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, known as DACA, resulted in the decision to conceal the individuals- identities-movingly (and dishearteningly), empty frames stand in lieu of the portraits. Kuklin presents the exact words of the contributors, which plainly describe their unique family struggles, the challenges of adapting to a new culture, and the reasons behind their coming to the United States-namely poverty, pervasive violence, the desire for better lives, and escaping tyrannical governments or trafficking. Kuklin includes haunting photos from her journey, guided by human rights activist John Fife, to the border between Nogales, Mexico, and Norales, Arizona: -This author needed to see the border in order to write about it,- she explains. This is a poignant, powerful, and timely volume. Ages 14-up. (Jan.)