Solis
Written by Paola Mendoza
and Abby Sher
Published by Nancy Paulsen Books
From the authors of Sanctuary comes a haunting near-future companion tale about undocumented immigrants subjected to deadly experiments in a government labor camp and the four courageous rebels who set into place a daring plan to liberate them.
The year is 2033, and in this near-future America where undocumented people are forced into labor camps, life is bleak. Especially so for seventeen-year-old Rania, a Lebanese teenager from Chicago. When she and her mother were rounded up by the Deportation Force, they were given the brutal job of digging in the labor camp’s mine in search of the destructive and toxic—but potentially world-changing—mineral aqualinium. With this mineral, the corrupt and xenophobic government of the New American Republic could actually control the weather—ending devastating droughts sweeping the planet due to climate change. If the government succeeds, other countries would be at their mercy. Solidifying this power comes at the expense of the undocumented immigrants forced to endure horrendous conditions to mine the mineral or used in cruel experiments to test it, leaving their bodies wracked in extreme pain to the point of death. As the experiments ramp up, things only get worse. Rania and her fellow prisoners decide to start a revolution; if they don’t, they know they will die.
Told by four narrators—Rania, Jess (a former teenage Deportation Force officer), Vali, and Vali’s mother, Liliana—Solis is about the courage and sacrifice it takes to stand and fight for freedom.
Primary ISBN: 9780593530818
Publication Date: October 2024
Available As: Hardcover, Paperback, Audiobook, eBook
Young Adult , Age 12 or older
Community Represented: Colombian/Colombian American, Lebanese/Lebanese American
Themes: Activism, Cross-Group Friendship, Detention & Deportation, Discrimination: Cultural, Discrimination: Immigration Status, Discrimination: Racial, Discrimination: Religious, Family Relationship: Parents, Family Separation: By Detention, Format: Audiobook, Genre: Science Fiction, Immigrant: Undocumented, Natural Disaster/Climate Change, Own Voices/Lived Experience, Religious Background: Muslim, Trigger Warning: Graphic Violence
Setting: United States (Future)
Character's Place in the Immigration Journey: Immigrant
Book Creator(s) Connection to the Community Represented: Own Voices/Lived Experience
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