The Book of Unknown Americans

Rafael gets a job delivering papers, and the Toro household is in a lighter mood because of this. When it starts snowing during school a few days later, Mayor decides to sneak out of class and borrow his father’s car without asking. Mayor drives over to Evers, the school Maribel attends, and sneaks around until he finds her classroom. Through the window, he signals for her to come outside. She ditches school and they drive to get fries at McDonald’s then travel to Cape Henlopen to stand in the snow together, Maribel dressed in Mayor’s coat. They kiss then fall over and Maribel erupts in laughter.

As a Mexican immigrant, Micho describes his disgust with the way Mexicans and Mexico are stereotyped in America. He is tired of people thinking he doesn’t speak English. He is fed up with being ignored and invisible. He talks about why Mexicans come to the US and the earnest hopes they bring with them. He also talks about his experiences working as a photographer—how he hoped to provide some meaningful commentary on the crimes of the drug war but the only photos anyone wanted to see were gory ones.