Set in 1903, eleven-year-old immigrant Maureen Stevenson is ready to become a U.S. citizen--just as soon as she solves the case of who's stealing artwork from her employer's mansion.

Miguel Rivera is the new kid in town, a young Mexican living with his family near the border in Texas. It isn't bad enough that he has to deal with the class bully, Joey Jeter Cortâes, and his mean substitute-teacher mother, he's also struggling with hisfamily to find their place in a new world. One day, in Santa Fe, Miguel is chased by boys and takes refuge in the Palace of the Governors. There, among the old and dusty artifacts of the Kingdom of New Spain, Miguel learns about his homeland and what it means to be a boy full of pride and confidence, in America.Illegally immigrating the United States with his parents, Miguel undergoes a trying childhood in Texas and New Mexico when his father disappears, leaving him and his mother to care for the family.