DREAM THINGS TRUE is a modern day ROMEO AND JULIET. Alma is an
undocumented Mexican girl who has lived with her family in America since
she was two-years-old. Evan is a rich Southern boy who wants for nothing.
He is a soccer star at his high school and she is his landscaper's daughter.
Alma wants to go to college but is afraid if she applies, her family will be
sent back to Mexico. Evan's uncle is a senator who is firmly supporting a
law against illegal immigrants. What could possibly go wrong, right? Evan
is trying to teach everyone around him, including Alma, not to judge a book
by its cover.
Being an undocumented girl is very hard for Alma. She is only trying to
make her life better, but at what cost? Alma and her family live in constant
fear and they are treated like common criminals and don't really have any
rights, even though they just want a better life. Alma loses herself in her
school work so she doesn't have to think about what could happen if they
are caught in America. DREAM THINGS TRUE is a very realistic story that
is going to break your heart one second and have you cheering for Alma
and Evan the next. Their story is one that must be told and must be read.
DREAM THINGS TRUE is a real page turner and you can't help but caught
up in the lives of Alma and Evan. Marie Marquardt does a fabulous job of
bringing the horror of The United States Immigration policies to the reader.
Will Evan be able to keep Alma's secret if she tells him? Will he go running to
his powerful political family and get Alma's family sent back to Mexico? I
finished DREAM THINGS TRUE with tears in my eyes and a huge lump in my
throat. I'm looking
forward to reading more by Marie Marquardt. While reading, I couldn't help
but hope that Alma and her family would find their brighter future and better
life.
Evan and Alma have spent fifteen years living in the same
town, connected in a dozen different ways but also living
worlds apart -- until the day he jumps into her dad's truck
and slams on the brakes.
The nephew of a senator, Evan seems to have it all - except
a functional family. Alma has lived in Georgia since she was
two, surrounded by a large (sometimes smothering) Mexican
family. They both want out of this town. His one-way ticket
is soccer; hers is academic success.
When they fall in love, they fall hard, trying to ignore
their differences. Then Immigration and Customs Enforcement
begins raids in their town, and Alma knows that she needs to
share her secret. But how will she tell her country-club
boyfriend that she and almost everyone she's close to are
undocumented immigrants?
What follows is a beautiful, nuanced exploration of the
complications of immigration, young love, defying one's
family, and facing a tangled bureaucracy that threatens to
completely upend two young lives. This page-turning debut
asks tough questions, reminding us that love is more
powerful than fear.