Blog Post
The Journey: Books on Refugees and Immigration for Kids
by evelyn
If you want to explain the current refugee crisis to a little one, the new picture book The Journey, by Francesca Sanna, is a wonderful place to start. This gentle and moving book is narrated by a child who has to leave home because of a war. Sanna never specifies where the family starts from, nor the country that they are traveling to, making this story applicable to many parts of the world. The illustrations in The Journey are simply stunning. I was moved to tears by this beautiful story and would recommend it to anyone, not just children.
For other picture books on refugees, take a look at Stepping Stones: A Refugee Family’s Journey and Joseph’s Big Ride. If you have children who are learning about immigration, try We Came to America, Their Great Gift, or This Land is Our Land.
Blog Post
Love in one day
by Lucy S
The Sun is Also A Star
National Book Award Finalist
In her second novel for young adults, The Sun is Also A Star, Nicola Yoon (Everything, Everything) takes an intricate and varied look at the immigrant experience in America as seen through the eyes of several different characters. The two main players in this story are Natasha, whose parents have lived in New York as undocumented immigrants for 8 years, and Daniel, who was born in America to parents who immigrated from Korea.
At the start of the book, Natasha’s family is on the brink of deportation and Daniel is facing pressure from his parents and “perfect” older brother as he is applying to top colleges. These two experiences, one of trying to stay in the United States, and one of trying to fit in, circle around each other to bring Natasha and Daniel together. Interspersed throughout Daniel’s and Natasha’s chapters are stories and vignettes from background players, including the universe, that round out the diversity of the immigrant experience, of faith and religion, fate, family and the search for one’s place in the world.
Many events that occur on the day that Natasha and Daniel meet seem fated, but could just be coincidence? This is one of the of the larger questions Yoon conveys. Do things happen for a reason or does it just seem that they do because of what we chose to notice? Natasha and Daniel first approach this puzzle from very different viewpoints but learn that they are not so disparate in their thinking after all.
And they discover together that whether or not people change, their eyes can be opened to new ways of seeing. Though these existential questions might generally contribute to teenage angst, Daniel and Natasha are not typically angsty. Worried, yes, but grounded as well. They have the same concerns as most teenagers, as well as larger concerns imposed by culture, family, and citizenship. “For most immigrants, moving to the new country is an act of faith. Even if you’ve heard stories of safety, opportunity, and prosperity, it’s still a leap to remove yourself from your own language, people, and country. Your own history.” Their love story is the best kind, romantic and awkward and thrilling all at once. Their chronicles of immigration and of belonging provide relevance to this romantic tale and show us that much can be accomplished through brave acts.
Blog Post
Washtenaw Interfaith Coalition for Immigrant Rights TEEN GROUP
by Beth Manuel
Washtenaw Interfaith Coalition for Immigrant Rights, or WICIR has long been a champion for our immigrant community by providing advocacy, information and legal assistance. Recently this group has created a safe space for immigrant youth & allies. Meetings take place at Corner Health every 2nd and 4th Monday of the month. Upcoming meetings are December 12, and January 9, 2017. Contact Frania Mendoza for more information: 734-273-9109 or WICIR.YOUTH@gmail.com.
Blog Post
Fabulous Fiction Firsts #618 “All Americans have something lonely about them. I don't know what the reason might be, except maybe that they're all descended from immigrants.” ~ Ryū Murakami
by muffy
Two of the most anticipated debuts this fall take readers deep into the lives of immigrant families.
The Wangs vs. the World * by Jade Chang follows an Chinese-American family as it tumbles from riches to rags. Charles Wang landed in LA as a young man penniless but managed to make a fortune in cosmetics. Now in his fifties, a series of rash business choices and the 2008 financial crisis bankrupted him. Homeless (his Bel-Air mansion foreclosed) and unable to pay tuition for his younger kids, he packs up what he could in the 1950 baby-blue Mercedes that used to belong to his dead first wife, rounds up the kids and a disgruntled second wife Barbra and heads for upstate New York - to daughter Saina's renovated farmhouse.
Unbeknownst to his family, Charles has no intention of settling in the middle of nowhere. His plans is to deposit his family on Saina, and heads to China to reclaim his ancestral lands (and his dignity), lost in the communist takeover. "It turns out that the Wangs can’t function without the trappings of their now-lost lavish lifestyle, a situation that gives the road trip a decidedly wacky bent and infuses the novel with humor. " (Booklist) With each bump on the road, the Wangs might eventually come to see what matters when you think you've lost it all; and what it means to be a family.
Ann Arbor author and a O. Henry Prize winner Derek Palacio's debut The Mortifications *
is praised by Peter Ho Davies as "(a) revelatory tale of Cuba and America, of faith and family, of the spirit and the flesh,... a debut remarkable for its wise and scrupulous insight into the human heart. Palacio feelingly reminds us that all immigrants are also exiles, wounded with loss, striving to make a home even as they yearn for the one they’ve left behind.”
During the 1980 traumatic Mariel Boatlift, Soledad Encarnación took twins Isabel and Ulises and fled to the US, leaving behind husband/father Uxbal, a committed revolutionary, for the promise of a better life. Settling in Hartford, Connecticut, far from the Miami Cuban immigrant community, they began a process of growth and transformation.
While Soledad establishes herself as a court stenographer and finds romance with Henri Willems, a Dutch horticulturalist eager to cultivate Cuban tobacco; Isabel, spiritually hungry and desperate for higher purpose, becomes a nun and works with the dying; Ulises, bookish and awkwardly tall, like his father, finds an aptitude working the soil. When Soladad is stricken with breast cancer, she asks Ulises to find Isabel who has disappeared, thus setting the stage of their homecoming where Uxbal awaits.
"Palacio’s writing is deceptively simple and startlingly original, and his characters, raw, almost mythic in scope, hang on long after the last page....Searching, heartbreaking, and achingly beautiful, the novel is as intimate as it is sweeping." (Kirkus Reviews)
* = starred review
Blog Post
A Look Back, a Step Forward
by Lucy S
How do you write about recent, disastrous history in a middle-grade book? And why? Jewell Parker Rhodes answers both of these questions in her new book, Towers Falling. This isn't the first book in which she has tackled hard, real life issues. Rhodes won The Coretta Scott King Award for her 2010 book, The Ninth Ward, the story of a girl braving Louisiana in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. In Towers Falling, Rhodes has again created a necessary and captivating book focusing, in part, on the events of September 11th. A class of fifth-graders in a Brooklyn school begins their school year by learning about the missing towers in the New York City landscape they see from their classroom window. As the year is 2016, none of these children were alive on September 11, 2001, and this towerless panorama is the only one they know. Their teacher, Ms. Garcia, uses this cityscape and its significance to begin a dialogue on interconnectedness, and the idea that history is alive. The students eventually come to realize that they are all connected to one another through this living history and therefore linked to the victims and witnesses of September 11.
At the heart of this story is fifth-grader Deja, who has recently moved into a homeless shelter, The Avalon, with her parents and two younger siblings. When asked to do a project about her home, Deja struggles, and then replicates her family instead of her physical dwelling. In so doing, she underscores Ms. Garcia’s message of affinity, the strength of relationships, and the nuanced meanings of family and home.
Deja and her two friends, Saleem and Ben, carry on this conversation and their learning outside of the classroom as they work on a homework assignment together. In creating a study of the “far past” and the “recent past” in America, these three arrive at an understanding of what it might mean to be an American, no matter where you’re from, or how or when you arrived. Deja is African-American, Saleem is Turkish and Ben has Mexican heritage. Their shared experiences make them realize that as part of the “American circle,” they are “different but still American.” “Some histories repeat; some events are unique. There is regional, statewide, and national history. We share all of it in common as Americans.”
Towers Falling is marketed towards 8 to 12 year-olds, and does, eventually provide some striking details from September 11, which are never easy to encounter. Still, this book is important for readers of all ages, teenagers and adults included, who will benefit from learning Deja's story, and grow because of the experience.
Lectures & Panel Discussions
Navigating the Immigration Experience: Author Saundra Amrhein Discusses Her Book “Green Card Stories”
Monday February 15, 2016: 7:00pm to
8:30pm
Downtown Library: Multi-Purpose Room
Grade 6 - Adult
Public Event
Michigan Notable Book Author and U-M Professor Sally Howell Discusses Her Book “Old Islam in Detroit: Rediscovering the Muslim American Past”
Monday October 5, 2015: 7:00pm to
8:30pm
Downtown Library: Multi-Purpose Room
Blog Post
Fairy Tales and Journeys Across the Sea
by Rachel S.
Set in 19th century Norway, West of the Moon tells the story of 13 year old Astri, who has just been sold to a cruel goat farmer by her greedy aunt. Clever and determined, Astri makes a daring escape to reunite with her sister and find a way to America. Remembering the heroes in fairy tales told by her mother gives Astri the strength to persevere in her journey and uncover family secrets.
Margi Preus was inspired to write the novel after reading a mysterious diary passage written by her great-great grandmother, Linka Preus, who immigrated to America in the 19th century. Fascinating images and information about Linka’s world are included in the Author’s Note.
For other retellings of the fairy tale East of the Sun, West of the Moon, try East or Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow. If you’d like to read the Norwegian fairy tales mentioned in the Preus novel, check out East of the Sun and West of the Moon: old tales from the North.
Lectures & Panel Discussions
Naturalization: A Step To Citizenship With Attorney Ruby Robinson
Wednesday February 12, 2014: 7:00pm to
8:30pm
Malletts Creek Branch: Program Room
Blog Post
Happy Polish American Heritage Month!
by eapearce
Cześć!
Celebrate Polish American Heritage Month (ongoing throughout October) at the AADL! This annual event was first started in 1981 and celebrates Polish history, culture and pride, as well as the many achievements of Polish Americans. Whether or not you have Polish heritage, participating in Polish American Heritage Month is fun and easy. Listen to traditional Polish fiddle music by the Karol Stoch Band and try your hand at some Polish recipes. Kids may enjoy hearing ancient Polish fables and folktales read aloud to them, too.
The library also has many books written in Polish in our World section, as well as books and CDs to help you learn and master the Polish language, whether you are an interested beginner or an out-of-practice native speaker. Try Colloquial Polish: the complete course for beginners, or Mastering Polish with 2 audio CDs, which also comes with a Polish-English dictionary.
For information about Polish history in Michigan, read about the first Polish people to settle in Detroit in Detroit’s Polenia, by Cecile Wendt Jensen. You can also learn about the contributions Polish people have made to Michigan culture and about the attraction that many Polish people feel to our state in Poles in Michigan, by Dennis Badaczewski.
Happy Polish American Heritage Month, and Miłego dnia!