Indivisible

by Daniel Aleman

Overview

This timely, moving debut novel follows a teen's efforts to keep his family together as his parents face deportation.

Mateo Garcia and his younger sister, Sophie, have been taught to fear one word for as long as they can remember: deportation. Over the past few years, however, the fear that their undocumented immigrant parents could be sent back to Mexico started to fade. Ma and Pa have been in the United States for so long, they have American-born children, and they're hard workers and good neighbors. When Mateo returns from school one day to find that his parents have been taken by ICE, he realizes that his family's worst nightmare has become a reality. With his parents' fate and his own future hanging in the balance, Mateo must figure out who he is and what he is capable of, even as he's forced to question what it means to be an American.

Daniel Aleman's Indivisible is a remarkable story—both powerful in its explorations of immigration in America and deeply intimate in its portrait of a teen boy driven by his fierce, protective love for his parents and his sister.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780759556058
Publisher:	Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Publication date:	05/04/2021
Pages:	400
Sales rank:	171,747
Product dimensions:	5.60(w) x 8.30(h) x 1.50(d)
Age Range:	14 - 18 Years

About the Author

Daniel Aleman was born and raised in Mexico City. A graduate of McGill University, he currently lives in Toronto. Indivisible is his first novel.

Editorial Reviews

★ 09/27/2021

A gay Mexican American high school junior who dreams of attending the Tisch School of the Arts finds his life drastically upended in this thoroughly openhearted debut. Though Mateo “Matt” Garcia, 16, has undocumented parents, he leads a relatively mundane life in New York City; he attends SAT prep classes to prepare for college applications, takes shifts at the family bodega, and has recently attended his first open call for an off-Broadway play with his white gay best friend, Adam. But when he comes home one day to find both of his parents gone—each facing the threat of deportation from ICE—Mateo must take on added responsibilities and care for his seven-year-old sister Sophie while the future of his family hangs in the balance. Capturing the acute pain of forced separation and fraying familial bonds (“I’m starting to feel as though there’s an invisible wall between us”), as well as the richness and depth of his protagonist’s interior life, Aleman strikingly foregrounds the experiences of children impacted by U.S. deportation policy in this weighty novel, which will leave an indelible mark on the hearts of readers. Ages 14–up. Agent: Pete Knapp, Park & Fine Literary and Media. (May)

Publishers Weekly

"Indivisible is a powerful story about family, friendship, and home. In a world divided by so many labels, this story is a reminder that there are no boundaries for love. It shines a light on the difficult choices people make for their family and community, and reminds us that each family is a little world. Mateo, Sophie, and their parents are now part of my heart."

—Yamile Saied Méndez, author of Pura Belpré Inaugural YA Award winner Furia

"Indivisible is a deeply moving tribute to those caught between two worlds in the immigration crisis in America - a potent reminder that no human being is illegal, and that hundreds of thousands of children in this situation are forced to grow up too quickly. Although this is fiction, it’s far too real." —Jodi Picoult, #1 New York Times-bestselling author of The Book of Two Ways

“As heart-wrenching a tale as it is, Indivisible is also a heartening tribute to the power and endurance of familial love." 

—Adi Alsaid, author of Let's Get Lost and North of Happy

"Indivisible is a heartbreakingly poignant and timely coming-of-age story of the human cost of a morally bankrupt immigration policy. This book is an unforgettable chronicle of the fiercest, indomitable love and devotion."

—Jeff Zentner, Morris Award-winning author of The Serpent King

"Both a gripping, harrowing story about an American tragedy and a moving portrait of the bonds of family and unexpected community, Indivisible somehow never loses its humor, its humanity or its hope."

—Kelly Loy Gilbert, author of Stonewall Honor Book Picture Us In the Light

"Daniel Aleman is a fearless writer who never shies away from the complexity of his premise, yet gives Mateo such agency and drive, you never lose hope as a reader. A total miracle of a book."

—Adam Sass, author of Surrender Your Sons

“In his moving debut novel, Daniel Aleman skillfully paints a story of how injustice rips us apart, friendships and family gathers our broken pieces, and hope slowly stitches us back together. Indivisible belongs on every shelf.”

—Julian Winters, award-winning author of Running With Lions

"Indivisible is an intimate and emotional portrait of a family trying to survive under the threat of deportation, with a deeply sensitive and resilient narrator at its center. It’s a powerful story of finding strength: strength to hold a family together as their worst fear becomes reality, and strength to learn who you are, what you want and the person you hope to become. At times heartbreaking, ultimately uplifting, this book is a poignant story we need."—Julia Drake, author of The Last True Poets of the Sea

“Stellar, clear and emotional, realistic and suspenseful. The story is complex and heart-wrenching, yet full of hope and familial love.”—Booklist

"Heart-wrenching.... An ode to the children of migrants."—Kirkus Reviews

"Insightful.... The uncertainty and heartbreak faced by families separated by deportation is brilliantly displayed."—SLJ

From the Publisher

03/01/2021

Gr 9 Up—Mateo is a Mexican American teenager with dreams of stardom. He and his friend Adam want to be drama students at the prestigious Tisch School at NYU. He begins to doubt that dream when another actor at an audition makes a racist comment. Mateo has always had trouble sewing together all of the different parts of his identity. He's never felt fully Mexican or fully American. Mateo is a brother, son, actor, part-time worker at his father's bodega, and gay. He knows he loves watching telenovelas with his mother and hanging out with his best friends Kimmie, who is half Korean, and Adam, who is Italian American. Mateo's carefully constructed path to acting school is disrupted when his mother and father are arrested by ICE agents. The protagonist has to figure out how to keep his father's business afloat, manage new living conditions, and still maintain a positive disposition at school. He feels ill-equipped to deal with the adult responsibilities that have been placed on him. The foundation of his world begins to crumble as Mateo tries to figure out how to support his sister and his parents in a new uncertain landscape. This is a novel about the human face of the immigrant community and is an insightful look at U.S. immigration policy and the families it affects. The uncertainty and heartbreak faced by families separated by deportation is brilliantly displayed. The friendships are genuine and the characters multifaceted. VERDICT This title is ideal for public and school libraries looking for a coming-of-age novel that explores the issues of immigration.—Desiree Thomas, Worthington Lib., OH

School Library Journal

2021-02-23
A Mexican American boy takes on heavy responsibilities when his family is torn apart.

Mateo’s life is turned upside down the day U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents show up unsuccessfully seeking his Pa at his New York City bodega. The Garcias live in fear until the day both parents are picked up; his Pa is taken to jail and his Ma to a detention center. The adults around Mateo offer support to him and his 7-year-old sister, Sophie, however, he knows he is now responsible for caring for her and the bodega as well as trying to survive junior year—that is, if he wants to fulfill his dream to enter the drama program at the Tisch School of the Arts and become an actor. Mateo’s relationships with his friends Kimmie and Adam (a potential love interest) also suffer repercussions as he keeps his situation a secret. Kimmie is half Korean (her other half is unspecified) and Adam is Italian American; Mateo feels disconnected from them, less American, and with worries they can’t understand. He talks himself out of choosing a safer course of action, a decision that deepens the story. Mateo’s self-awareness and inner monologue at times make him seem older than 16, and, with significant turmoil in the main plot, some side elements feel underdeveloped. Aleman’s narrative joins the ranks of heart-wrenching stories of migrant families who have been separated.

An ode to the children of migrants who have been taken away. (Fiction. 14-18)

Kirkus Reviews