**Joshua Davis's Spare Parts--now a major motion picture--is a story
about overcoming insurmountable odds and the young men who proved they
were among the most patriotic and talented Americans in this
country--even as the country tried to kick them out.
**
Four undocumented Mexican American students, two great teachers, one
robot-building contest . . .
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
much--but 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 wasn't 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 competition--and yet, against all odds . .
. they won!
But this is just the beginning for these four, whose story--which became
a key inspiration to the DREAMers movement--will go on to include
first-generation college graduations, deportation, bean-picking in
Mexico, and service in Afghanistan.
Finalist for the J. Anthony Lukas Book Prize
New York Times Best Seller
