Indivisible by Daniel Aleman. Unabridged e-audiobook, ~9 hours. Read by Adan Rocha. Little, Brown Books for Young Readers/ Machete Audio, May, 2021. 9781549138058. (Review of e-audiobook borrowed from public library.)
Happy Tuesday! Today is the end of my first full week of summer break and it certainly has been eventful as have the last 26 days. I'm reading some awesome books and have just made my way through a stack of fun picture books.
Teen Tuesday features Indivisible by debut author, Daniel Aleman. Sixteen-year-old Mateo Garcia leads a pretty good life in the lower east side of Manhattan. He's out to his supportive parents, he's on track to get into a good college, he has two best friends in Kimmie and Adam and, while he may be poor, he, his seven-year-old sister, Sophie, and his parents are close-knit and happy. All that comes crashing down when ICE agents arrest his parents. It doesn't matter that they have built a life in the U.S. after overstaying their visas. It doesn't matter that their children were born here and are U.S. citizens. It doesn't matter that Pa runs a bodega that is an important part of their neighborhood.
With no relatives to turn to, Mateo and Sophie do their best to maintain normalcy. A family friend offers to take them in, but Mateo declines. His apartment is tiny and his wife just had a baby. Soon, the reality of keeping up at school, running the bodega, caring for Sophie and making rent sets it. A near-miss with Child Protection forces Mateo to face reality.
Mr. Aleman effectively puts faces on the faceless. He paints portraits of striving immigrants who love their adoptive country and work hard for very little. Mateo is an earnest narrator and Adan Rocha's performance is nuanced and emotionally resonant.
Like Efrén Divided, Indivisible is powerful, timely and important. It belongs in all library collections.
