The Book of Unknown Americans Summary
Cristina Henríquez

The Book of Unknown Americans Overview

The Book of Unknown Americans is a young adult novel by Cristina Henríquez. The story, told in an alternating first person narrative voice, explores the commonalities and differences of the Latin American immigration experience from the perspective of various tenants of an apartment building near Newark, Delaware. The story focuses on two couples: Alma and Arturo, who emigrated from Mexico in order to send their daughter, Maribel, to a special school after she sustained a brain injury; and a Panamanian couple, Celia and Rafael, whose son falls in love with Maribel. The novel treats the themes of identity, home, community and power from the lens of recent and established immigrant individuals and families.