We Are Here to Stay

February 25, 2019
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.

December 21, 2018

Gr 5 Up-While the nine young adults who tell their stories in Kuklin's moving new volume came to the United States from different countries, there are commonalities among them beyond the tenuous situations in which they still find themselves. Narratives detailing their experiences with Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, border security, and their feelings about assimilating into U.S. society while leaving behind their homelands are illuminating. In order to protect the participants, they are identified only by first initials, empty frames have replaced photographs of them, and all means of identifying them were removed. Kuklin shares her hope that one day the book will be reissued with the photographs and names intact, though the current format effectively demonstrates that many young people have to live hidden in plain sight. A notes and resources section includes a time line about executive actions and immigration law from 1790 through 2017 as well as a list of websites of interest for undocumented immigrants and those seeking information about them. VERDICT A timely account that most libraries will want to consider.-Betsy Fraser, Calgary Public Library, Canada

November 1, 2018
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)

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December 15, 2018
Grades 9-12 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.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)

May 1, 2019
The Trump administration's 2017 repeal of DACA put photojournalist Kuklin (Beyond Magenta, rev. 3/14) and her work-in-progress, about undocumented immigrants, 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. These measures are variously successful, with the initials and empty frames where portraits were meant to be reinforcing the danger such immigrants face but at the same time placing a veil of anonymity over their stories that can sometimes make them feel generic. Still, Kuklin includes an array of circumstances?those who jumped a wall; those who overstayed visas; immigrants from South Korea, Ghana, and Independent Samoa as well as those who crossed the southern border?that may broaden a reader's understanding of the crisis. Most of all, the book conveys the difficult choices undocumented immigrants face at every step of their journeys: There was never a question about what to take, because we had so little. The question was who to take. A photo essay about the Arizona border, narrated by a Tucson minister/activist, adds visual interest, and back matter of Notes and Resources is exemplary. roger Sutton

(Copyright 2019 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

July 1, 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.

(Copyright 2019 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)