Recommended for grades 7-10
Wow! Eleven well-known authors write about the immigrant experience for teenagers. The stories are as different as the countries each immigrant comes from, and each is completely absorbing. There are stories from Cambodia, Korea, Romania, Mexico, Venezuela among others.
Pam Muñoz Ryan's title piece, First Crossing, tells the story of a young teen boy from Jalisco’s first trip across the border in Tijuana. It’s so heartbreaking. The story tells of the coyotes - the people who take illegal immigrants across the border, how much people pay for the crossing and the dangers involved in doing so. It made me cry.
I loved David Lubar’s story of a Romanian who gets sent to Alaska rather than Arkansas with his family as they’ve been told. When his new goth school friends find out he is from Transylvania, they find new ways of testing him for vampiric abilities. It’s funny, quirky, and different.
In My Favorite Chaperone, a girl from Kazakhstan describes the differences in culture and learns to fit in. This one was one of my favorites, especially when she is translating for her parents about her little brother and changes the translation to minimize the trouble her little brother gets into.
I think this is an important book for both the YA crowd as well as adults. The stories promote tolerance, explain the immigrant experience and really do a good job explaining all the very real reasons why people come to America.
Article comments
1 - Nancy M
This is an era of moving up the ladders by migrating from the poor nations to the rich ones. This book is a refreshing read in this context. But there is a larger picture about the changing world: many emerging nations are catching up madly. Yes, madly. For this, read another brilliant book: China's global reach: markets, multinationals, and globalization, by a Chinese journalist george zhibin gu, which offers very insightful ideas on changing global politics and economics that affects things like jobs and lifestyles.