A little girl’s questions about objects in her grandfather’s home prompt a dialogue between grandfather and granddaughter that reveals a story of immigration, family, and the importance of history. An old cigar box holds matchboxes filled with small objects, each one tied to a memory for her grandfather to share.
See the review at WOW Review, Volume VII, Issue 4
A successor to the popular Children Around the World written and illustrated by Donata Montanari, this book allows young readers to visit with fourteen children, each from a different country, to learn about their families. Based on real children, each one’s story fills a two-page spread and is told in the first person, beginning with a greeting in the child’s native language.
In the early 1900s, two cousins leave their Russian shtetl with the rest of their family to come to America, hopeful that they will all pass the dreaded inspection at Ellis Island.
The author recalls the year when his farm worker parents settled down in the city so that he could go to school for the first time.
Featured in WOW Review Volume X, Issue 1.
When his father leads him on a magical trip of discovery through new fallen snow, a young boy who emigrated from his warm island home overcomes fears about living in New York.
A “documentary comic book” from 1931, depicting the true adventures of four young Japanese men in America.
See the review at WOW Review, Volume VI, Issue 4
As a straight-A student with a budding romance and loyal best friend, M.T.’s life seems as apple-pie American as her blondish hair and pale skin. But M.T. hides two facts to the contrary: her full name of Monserrat Thalia and her status as an undocumented immigrant.
With senior year of high school kicking into full swing, M.T. sees her hopes for a “normal” future unraveling. And it will take discovering a sense of trust in herself and others for M.T. to stake a claim in the life that she wants.
Author Maria E. Andreu draws from her personal experience to tell a story that is timely, relevant, and universally poignant.
See the review at WOW Review, Volume VI, Issue 4
After a terrorist attack kills Dani’s aunt and unborn cousin, life in Argentina–private school, a boyfriend, a loving family–crumbles quickly. In order to escape a country that is sinking under their feet, Dani and her family move to the United States. It’s supposed to be a fresh start, but when you’re living in a cramped apartment and going to high school where all the classes are in another language–and not everyone is friendly–life in America is not all it’s cracked up to be. Dani misses her old friends, her life, Before. But then Dani meets a boy named Jon, who isn’t like all the other students. Through him, she becomes friends with Jessica, one of the popular girls, who is harboring a secret of her own. And then there’s Brian, the boy who makes Dani’s pulse race. In her new life, the one After, Dani learns how to heal and forgive. She finds the courage to say goodbye and allows herself to love and be loved again.
A collection of stories about young Latino’s immigrant experiences in the United States.
See the review at WOW Review, Volume VI, Issue 3
Touched by Fire, Irene N. Watt’s exquisite new novel, explores one family’s journey as they flee from the pogroms of Russia in 1905, where the Cossacks burn villages to the ground, to Berlin, Germany, where Jews have a hard time living and working in peace, to the streets of the Lower East Side in New York. Teenage Miriam gives a first-hand account of the excitement everyone feels about going to America, the “Golden Land,” the journey in steerage, the arrival at Ellis Island, and the discrimination the immigrants feel while seeking employment. When Miriam finally lands a job at the Triangle Shirt Waist Company as a cuff setter, she believes her future in the New World is finally secure. But on March 25, 1911, the fire that starts from overflowing bins of material scraps rages into what becomes known as the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, and Miriam’s life is forever changed.
See the review at WOW Review, Volume VII, Issue 4