Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe is a coming-of-age novel by the American writer Benjamin Alire Saenz, first published in 2012. It is set in El Paso, Texas, in 1987.

Aristotle Mendoza, who is known as Ari, is fifteen and has a brother in prison. He is an angry loner until he meets Dante Quintana at the local swimming pool, and the two of them become friends. He is unhappy, and he has very little idea of what to do about it. Ari is the one telling the story, so the reader spends the book inside his account of events.

The novel is about the friendship between the two boys and about what they work out as they talk: their ethnic identity, the families they come from, and their sexuality. Both of them are Mexican American, and the names they carry come from Greek philosophy and Italian poetry.

The book was widely praised and won a number of awards, and a sequel, Aristotle and Dante Dive into the Waters of the World, followed in 2021. A film adaptation appeared in 2022.