Mama has rented one of the bedrooms in their trailer to two guys who do drywalling and eleven-year-old Zitlally is looking for hope in a forest of old car parts nearby. At school she struggles with math worksheets and two girls who once were her friends but now laugh at her behind her back. Her world changed the day her father was arrested for speeding and was deported-deportado- back to Mexico. Just outside the Forest View Mobile Home Park, Zitlally finds a dog. He's chained and thirsty and starving. She names him Star. Her own name means star in the language of the Aztecs. Armed with her ancient heritage, Zitlally is struggling with today. Slowly, she builds a friendship with Crystal, who lives with her mother and her mother's boyfriend in a trailer nearby. Crystal has an imaginative story to explain everything. Her father is off in Antarctica rather than holed up in a jail cell. The two girls turn to each other and begin to train Star. Then, word comes that Papa might be able to come back. He'll be making the journey with the help of the "coyotes" who charge $2,000 for the trip across the border. As Zitlally hears what is happening to Papa, she realizes that Star's journey and her father's journey are mirrors for each other. Star just might be her father's Spirit Animal. Then, Star disappears. Zitlally is on her own journey figuring out who she is and where her value lies. 160 pages