Spare Parts (2014) tells the story of four undocumented Mexican American students and their competition to build the best underwater robot -- even though they had never been to the ocean. In the end, the group built their robot and won the competition against all odds. After all, they were against teams with much more money and much better education. But Spare Parts is not just the story of those boys; it tells the story of all immigrants across the world -- from Mexico to Russia to Afghanistan.
Upon release, the book received critical acclaim. On Amazon, it has a rating of 4.6 out of 5 stars. On book review aggregator Goodreads.com, it has a similar rating of 4.12 out of 5 stars. Speaking positively of the book, the Washington Post writes that: "'Spare Parts' is a delightful book, perfect for entertaining and inspiring high school kids. Davis writes well, and he keeps his plot moving swiftly." It was later adapted into a film of the same name released in 2015, directed by Sean McNamara, distributed by Lionsgate, and starring George Lopez, Jamie Lee Curtis, and Marisa Tomei . It received mediocre reviews and was a box office failure, taking in $3.6 million against a budget of $4 million.
