A Junior Library League selection

Kirkus Reviews Best Book, 2022

Best Children’s Book of the Year, Bank Street College of Education

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When a teenage girl’s single mother is taken by ICE, everything changes—all of her hopes and dreams for the future have turned into survival.

Seventeen-year-old Rania is shaken awake in her family’s apartment in Brooklyn. ICE is at the door, taking her mother away. But   Ammi has done everything right, hasn’t she? Their asylum case is fine.

This was supposed to be Rania’s greatest summer: hanging out with her best friend, Fatima, and getting ready for college in the fall.

But it’s 2019, and nothing is certain.

Now, along with her younger brother, Kamal, and a new friend, Carlos, Rania must figure out how to survive. A road trip leads to searching for answers to questions she didn’t even think to ask.

In this vivid exploration of what happens when the country you have put your hopes into is fast shutting down, award-winning author Marina Budhos shows us how one girl bursting with dreams navigates secrets, love, and the lure of the open road.

“A triumphant tale about finding home.”–Kirkus Reviews, starred

“Budhos weaves a rich tapestry of words that navigates a yearning for acceptance, love, and the unerring need for freedom.”–Booklist, starred

“We Are All We Have is compelling and vivid, filled with drama, family secrets and romance. “–Book Page

“Budhos aptly conveys how the draconian U.S. immigration policies instituted in 2018 cruelly separated children from their families, and incorporates references to iconic art and poetry to reflect on the loss of home, on love, and on family. “–The Horn Book

“Gut-wrenching.”–Publisher’s Weekly

“…  a masterful blend of character- and plot-based storytelling.”–School Library Journal

Gateway to Literature: An Innovative Readers Theater Program brings We Are All We Have into schools

“Marina Budhos has written a stunning coming-of-age story that poignantly balances the struggles and triumphs of the immigrant experience with the tenderness and exhilaration of first love. This beautiful novel is a much-needed reminder that moments of anxiety and uncertainty must be met with compassion and humanity– regardless of who we are and where we come from.”-Sara Saedi, author of the memoir Americanized: Rebel without a Green Card and the novel I Miss You, I Hate This

“WE ARE ALL WE HAVE follows the journey of a fierce, unapologetic teenager looking for answers—about her family’s past, about her identity, and about her future. Powerful and unflinching in its portrayal of the struggles faced by asylum seekers in the United States, this book will keep you turning the pages until the very end.” -Daniel Aleman, author of INDIVISIBLE

“Terrifyingly true, Budhos has created deep, compelling characters, each in search of their own version of freedom.”–Abby Sher, author of Amen, Amen, Amen, All the Ways the World Can End, Miss You Love You Hate You Bye, and Sanctuary, co-authored with Paola Mendoza  

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