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Four Undocumented Teenagers, One Ugly Robot, and the Battle for the American Dream
FSG Originals
December 2014
On Sale: December 2, 2014
240 pages
ISBN: 0374183376
EAN: 9780374183370
Kindle: B00IQOC2DU
Hardcover / e-Book
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Non-Fiction
Four undocumented Mexican American students, two great teachers, one robot-building contest . . . and a major motion picture In 2004, four Latino teenagers arrived at the Marine Advanced Technology Education Robotics Competition at the University of California, Santa Barbara. They were born in Mexico but raised in Phoenix, Arizona, where they attended an underfunded public high school. No one had ever suggested to Oscar, Cristian, Luis, or Lorenzo that they might amount to muchβbut two inspiring science teachers had convinced these impoverished, undocumented kids from the desert who had never even seen the ocean that they should try to build an underwater robot. And build a robot they did. Their robot wasnβt pretty, especially compared to those of the competition. They were going up against some of the best collegiate engineers in the country, including a team from MIT backed by a $10,000 grant from ExxonMobil. The Phoenix teenagers had scraped together less than $1,000 and built their robot out of scavenged parts. This was never a level competitionβand yet, against all odds . . . they won! But this is just the beginning for these four, whose storyβwhich became a key inspiration to the DREAMers movementβwill go on to include first-generation college graduations, deportation, bean-picking in Mexico, and service in Afghanistan. Joshua Davisβs Spare Parts is a story about overcoming insurmountable odds and four young men who proved they were among the most patriotic and talented Americans in this countryβeven as the country tried to kick them out.
 Media BuzzCBS This Morning - January 17, 2015
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