by Charlene Klassen Endrizzi, Westminster College, New Wilmington, PA
“Mothers and fathers have equal duties to read to their children. My daughter-in-law is a lawyer so she comes home from work very tired. My son, who currently stays at home with the children, reads every day at bedtime to his children. He is very close to them through reading.” –Hadass, a trilingual native of Jerusalem, offered these insights into Israeli parent-child reading habits during our bus ride from Tel Aviv to her hometown.
Across generations and cultures, families create these intimate yet equally intellectual literacy moments with children. The PJ Library, http://www.pjlibrary.org/, is a North American Jewish Family Engagement program designed to perpetuate the parent-child reading tradition. The parallel Israeli version, Sifriyat Pijama, emphasizes the same dual goals of supporting literacy and reaffirming Jewish values. Preschool teachers enrolled in the program receive Jewish literature and music to share with their three to five year old students’ families. One parent must speak Hebrew since all of the books and the Parent Reading Guides at the beginning of each text are written in the official language of Israel.
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Authors outside of the cultures they are representing write both the immigration books from this as well as the 
Generally, immigration can be due to many reasons some of which could be due to family/marriage, work/better life or as refugees from war, genocide, and unrest. In the effect of immigration on characters one observes a certain general impact as the characters go through the process of settling in their adopted countries while they usually settle in to a better life while continuing to hold on to their old life. Letting go of who a person has been for a long time is not easy. However, the impact of effects of genocide, war and unrest are ever present in an immigrant’s life and are not easy to shake off.
Yang stresses the importance of being who you truly are and nothing less. As teachers it is our duty to create a classroom environment in which our students can feel free and comfortable being themselves.
