Summary

Author Lauren Markham has been working with refugees and immigrants since 2006 and has worked at Oakland International High School since 2011. In 2013, she began reporting on the uptick in immigration by unaccompanied minors, first as an article and then for this book. As the population of unaccompanied minors enrolled at Lauren's school escalated, she began helping these kids navigate the legal system. In 2014, she met the Flores twins who would become the subject of this book. Immigrants have always shaped the future of the United States, but the country has not always done well in welcoming them. This book is about the young people who come to America, where they're from, the choices they've had to make, and what their stories reveal about the United States as a country.

The prologue focuses on the Flores twins, Ernesto and Raul, who are the...