IMMIGRATION, REFUGEES, AND INTERNALLY DISPLACED PERSONS
(IDPs)
What has happened to us in this country? If we study our own
history we find that we have always been ready to receive the
unfortunates from other countries, and though this may seem a
generous gesture on our part, we have profited a thousandfold by
what they have brought us.
- Eleanor Roosevelt
From its inception, the United States has been a nation of immigrants. Prior to the arrival
of the Europeans, the best estimates of the number of indigenous people were in the tens
of millions, having immigrated themselves from elsewhere (probably Asia over the
Bering Strait). Anyone whose ancestors arrived after 1492 are the descendants of
immigrants, a “teeming Nation of nations,” as Walt Whitman called them.
Autobiography
Ada, Alma Flor. (1998). Under the royal palms: A childhood in Cuba. New York:
Atheneum. The childhood of the Cuban American professor who is also a muchpublished author.
2000 Pura Belpré Author Medal
Asgedom, Mawi. (2001). Of beetles and angels: A true story of the American Dream.
Chicago, IL: megadee books. Asgedom, a refugee from Ethiopia who received a
scholarship to Harvard, chronicles the path of his journey, including the logical
misunderstandings people make when moving from one culture to another. One of
Asgedom’s acquaintances mistook a refrigerator for a clothes dresser: “He
organized his trousers and shirts on the shelves, even placing his underwear and
socks in the pull-out drawers on the bottom” (p. 96). YA
2003 Notable Social Studies Trade Book for Young People
Bok, Francis, with Edward Tivnan. (2003). Escape from slavery: The true story of my ten
years in captivity—and my journey to freedom in America. New York: St.
Martin’s Griffin. Bok, from the Dinka tribe in the Sudan, was captured and lived
in slavery for ten years. Now living in the United States, Bok is an antislavery
activist; estimates are that 27 million people worldwide live in slavery. YA
crossover
Bulosan, Carlos. (1973). America is in the heart. Seattle: University of Washington Press.
(Originally published 1946).
About a family that immigrates from the Philippines. Having discovered Defoe’s
book in the Philippines, Macario, to his brother Carlos, says: “You must
remember the good example of Robinson Crusoe. Someday you may be left alone
somewhere in the world and you will have to depend on your own ingenuity.”
Years later, after both had experienced a cruelty and hostility they did not expect
as immigrants to the United States, Macario nevertheless enlisted to fight for the
country that had so disappointed him. Reminiscent of Crusoe, he said, “’The
world is an island. We are cast upon the sea of life hoping to land somewhere in
the world. But there is only one island and it is the heart.’” YA crossover
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Cofer, Judith Ortiz. (1990). Silent dancing: A partial remembrance of a Puerto Rican
childhood. Houston, TX: Arte Publico Press. At one difficult moment in her
childhood she wrote, “I instinctively understood then that language is the only
weapon a child has against the absolute power of adults” (p. 66). YA
Dalton, David. (2006). Living in a refugee camp: Carbino’s story. Children in Crisis
series. Milwaukee, WI: World Almanac Library. A multigenre text including
information, interviews, and memoir. Carbino, a Sudanese refugee, describes his
life growing up in a refugee camp.
Deng, Benson, Deng Alephonsion, Benjamin Ajak, & Judy A. Bernstein. (2005). They
poured fire on us from the sky: The true story of three lost boys from Sudan. New
York: Public Affairs. With Judy Bernstein, three young men who now reside in
the United States chronicle the events that led up to their immigration. YA
Huynh, Quan Nhoung, & Vo-Dinh Mai (Illus.). (1999). The land I lost: Adventures of a
boy in Vietnam. New York: HarperCollins. (Originally published in 1982).
Jiménez, Francisco (2001). Breaking through. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. The son of
Mexican immigrants, Jiménez eventually became a writer and college professor.
2001 Américas Award for Children’s and Young Adult Literature
2002 Pura Belpré Author Honor
2001 Tomás Rivera Mexican American Children’s Book Award
Jiménez, Francisco. (1997). The circuit: Stories from the life of a migrant child.
Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press.
1997 Américas Award for Children’s and Young Adult Literature
1998 Jane Addams Book for Older Children Honor
Excellent New Literature for Grades 6-12, Cooperative Children’s Book Center
(CCBC)
Biography
Bierman, Carol, Barbara Hehner, & Laurie McGaw (Illus.). (1998). Journey to Ellis
Island: How my father came to America. New York: Hyperion.
Gage, Nicholas. (1983). Eleni. New York: Random House.
About the communist occupation of Greece, which forced many Greeks to
immigrate to the United States. This is Gage’s biography of his amazing, and
martyred, mother. YA crossover
Gage, Nicholas. (1989). A place for us. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. When Gage returned
to his country of origin, Greece, he found that “No matter how poor, they had an
appreciation for life and a talent for enjoying themselves that a millionaire might
envy” (p. 338). YA crossover
Graff, Nancy Price, & Richard Howard (Photo.). (1993). Where the river runs: A portrait
of a refugee family. Boston: Little, Brown. About a Cambodian family that
immigrates to the United States.
Howard, Helen. (2006). Living as a refugee in America: Mohammed’s story. Children in
Crisis series. Milwaukee, WI: World Almanac Library. A multigenre text
including information, biography, and memoir. Mohammed, a refugee from
Afghanistan, describes what he misses about his country, about being separated
from his father, and his new life in America.
3
Murphy, Jim. (2000). Pick & shovel poet: The journeys of Pascal D’Angelo. New York:
Clarion. D’Angelo immigrates from Italy to the United States, where he works as
a manual laborer.
Excellent New Literature for Grades 6-12, Cooperative Children’s Book Center
(CCBC)
2001 Notable Social Studies Trade Book for Young People
Warren, Andrea. (2004). Escape from Saigon: How a Vietnam War orphan became an
American boy. New York: Farrar Straus Giroux. An Amerasian boy’s story of
living in Vietnam, then Ohio.
Contemporary and Historical Realistic Fiction: Novels
Alvarez, Julia. (2001). How Tía Lola came to visit stay. New York: Knopf. A child from
the Dominican Republic living in Vermont learns new things when his aunt
arrives.
Auch, Mary Jane. (2002). Ashes of roses. New York: Holt. Irish immigrants in New York
City sweatshops, including the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire.
2003 Notable Social Studies Trade Book for Young People
2004 Young Adults’ Choices
Auch, Mary Jane. (1991). Journey of the sparrows. New York: Lodestar. Documents the
struggle of living as undocumented immigrants from El Salvador.
Conlon-McKenna, Marita. Children of the Famine Trilogy.
Buss, Fran, & Donald Teskey (Illus.). (1990). Under the hawthorn tree. New York:
Holiday. Three children must fend for themselves when their parents are taken
from them because of the famine.
1991 Reading Association of Ireland Premier Award
Buss, Fran. (1992). Wildflower girl. New York: Holiday. Because of the famine, a
thirteen year old girl sets out for America by herself.
Buss, Fran. (1997). Fields of home. New York: Holiday. With some of their family in
Ireland and some in America, the three protagonists from Under the Hawthorn
Tree, now older, face their challenges bravely.
Crew, Linda. (1991). Children of the river. New York: Doubleday. Based on her
experience with Cambodian refugees in Oregon, Crew writes about the cultural
conflicts a teen experience as she struggles to maintain respect for her aunt and
uncle while wanting to participate in things Americans do.
Danticat, Edwidge. (2002). Behind the mountains. New York: Orchard. The diary of a
thirteen year old girl from Haiti who is adjusting to life in Brooklyn.
Desai Hidier, Tanuja. (2002). Born confused. New York: Scholastic. A seventeen year
old girl tries to manage living in two cultures, that of her family from India and of
the Americans who are her peers. YA
2004 Asian/Pacific American Honorable Mention for Text in Young Adult
Literature
Ellis, Deborah. The Breadwinner Trilogy:
2004 Jane Addams Children’s Book Award Special Commendation
2000 The Breadwinner. Toronto: Groundwood.
2003 Mud City. Toronto: Groundwood.
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2002 Parvana’s Journey. Toronto: Groundwood.
2003 Jane Addams Book Award for Older Children
The Breadwinner, the first in the Trilogy, depicts the life of Parvana, who must
dress up as a boy and go out to forage a living after the Taliban imprisons her
father. In Parvana’s Journey, the second book in the trilogy, Parvana sets out to
find her mother and sister, from whom she has been separated, after her father’s
death. Along the way, she bands together with other forsaken children, including
an infant. Mud City, the third book in the trilogy, focuses on Parvana’s friend
Shauzia, who endures difficult conditions in a refugee camp in Pakistan.
Giff, Patricia Reilly. (2004). A house of tailors. New York: Wendy Lamb. A German
immigrant girl in 1871 in Brooklyn.
Giff, Patricia Reilly. (2000). Nory Ryan’s song. New York: Delacorte. A twelve year old
girl helps her community during the Irish Potato Famine.
Hesse, Karen. (1992). Letters from Rifka. New York: Holt. A Jewish girl, in letters to her
cousin, tells of her family’s immigration from Russia, Belgium (where she is
alone for awhile), then to the United States.
Ho, Minfong. (2003). The stone goddess. New York: Orchard. Two sisters in Cambodia,
after the Communist, takeover struggle to keep dancing.
Hosseini, Khaled. (2003). The kite runner. New York: Riverhead Books. Written for
adults but enjoyed by young adults, this book tells the story of an Afghan boy
who betrays his best friend, an act that haunts him for years, even after
immigrating to the United States. YA crossover
Hughes, Pat. (2004). The breaker boys. New York: Farrar Straus Giroux. Conflicts
between coal mine owners and immigrant labor.
Lahiri, Jhumpa. (2003). The namesake. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. An Asian Indian
American boy, who his parents name Gogol, for the Russian writer. YA
crossover
Lasky, Kathryn. (1998). Dreams in the golden country: The diary of Zipporah Feldman,
a Jewish immigrant girl. New York: Scholastic. A Russian girl living in the early
twentieth century on the lower East Side of New York. CL
Lord, Bette Bao, & Marc Simont. (1984). In the year of the boar and Jackie Robinson.
New York: Harper. A Chinese girl, Shirley, immigrates to the United States with
her family, where her classmates nickname her “Jackie Robinson” because of her
prowess playing baseball. Readers Theater available; email [email protected].
CL
Na, An. (2001). A step from Heaven. Asheville, NC: Front Street. A Korean girl faces
many challenges as an immigrant, including an abusive father. YA
Napoli, Donna Jo. (2005). The king of mulberry street. New York: Wendy Lamb. A boy
from Naples, Italy, learns to survive in the streets of New York in 1892.
Nye, Naomi Shihab. (1997). Habibi. New York: Simon & Schuster. An Arab American
girl immigrates with her family to Palestine, where she falls in love with an Israeli
boy.
1998 Jane Addams Book for Older Children Award
Paterson, Katherine. (2006). Bread and roses, too. New York: Clarion. Immigrant
children during the Bread and Roses strike of 1912 find friendship.
5
Roth, Henry. (1991). Call it sleep. New York: Farrar Straus Giroux. Jewish immigrants
on the Lower East Side of New York City. (Originally published in 1934). YA
crossover.
Ryan, Pam Muñoz. (2000). Esperanza rising. New York: Scholastic. A riches-to-rags
story: A wealthy young Mexican girl is forced to flee with her mother and friends
to the United States, where they become migrant workers.
2001 Top 10 Best Books for Young Adults
2002 Edgar Allen Poe Best Young Adult Mystery
2001 Jane Addams Book for Older Children Award Winner
2002 Pura Belpré Author Medal
Excellent New Literature for Grades 6-12, Cooperative Children’s Book Center
(CCBC)
Staples, Suzanne. (2005). Under the Persimmon tree. New York: Farrar Straus Giroux.
An orphaned girl under the Taliban dresses up as a boy and finds her way to an
American-Muslim teacher in Pakistan.
2006 Skipping Stones Honor Award
Veciana-Suarez, Ana. (2002). Flight to freedom. New York: Orchard. The diary of a
thirteen year old girl in Cuba in 1967.
Yep, Laurence. (1993). Dragon's gate. New York: HarperCollins. Immigrant Chinese
laborers build the transcontinental railroad in 1867.
1994 Newbery Honor Book
Yep, Laurence. (1975). Dragon wings. New York: HarperCollins. Based on a factual
account of a Chinese immigrant who invented a successful flying machine in
1909.
1976 Carter G. Woodson Award
1976 Jane Addams Honor Book
1976 Newbery Honor Book
1976 Boston Globe-Horn Book Award for Excellence in Children’s Literature
Honor Book/Fiction
1995 Phoenix Award
Yep, Laurence. (2000). The journal of Wong Ming-Chung. New York: Scholastic. A
Chinese boy in California’s gold rush.
Yep, Laurence. (1984). The serpent’s children. New York: Harper. About the Opium
wars caused by the British presence in China that resulted in many Chinese
immigrating to the United States.
Yep, Laurence. (1991). The star fisher. New York: Morrow. Based on Yep’s mother,
growing up in West Virginia in 1927.
Zephaniah, Benjamin. (2001). Refugee boy. New York: Bloomsbury. A young London
author of Jamaican descent writes about a refugee from the Ethiopian-Eritrean
conflict.
2003 Notable Social Studies Trade Book for Young People
Informational Books
Ashabranner, Brent. (1985). Dark harvest: Migrant farmworkers in America.
Photographs by Paul Conklin. New York: Dodd. The lives of those who put food
on our tables.
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1988 Boston Globe-Horn Book Award for Excellence in Children’s Literature
Honor Book/Nonfiction
Behnke, Alison. (2005). Chinese in America. Minneapolis: Lerner.
Bial, Raymond. (2002). Tenement: Immigrant life on the lower East side. Boston:
Houghton Mifflin. Life in the early 1900s.
2003 Notable Social Studies Trade Book for Young People
2003 Orbis Pictus Nonfiction Honor Book
Brkic, Courtney Angela. (2004). The stone fields: An Epitaph for the living. New York:
Farrar Straus Giroux. Brkic revisits her country of origin to document the war in
Bosnia and Hercegovina. YA crossover.
Brill, Marlene Targ. (1995). The trail of tears: The cherokee journey from home.
Brookfield, CT: Millbrook. The forced migration of 1838 in which thousands
died.
Bruchac, Joseph, & Shonto Begay. (2002). Navajo long walk: The tragic story of a proud
people’s forced march from their homeland. Washington, D.C.: National
Geographic. The forced migration of 1863-1867.
DK in association with UNICEF. (2002). A life like mine: How children live around the
world. New York: DK. Pictures children around the world, including Internally
Displaced Persons and Refugees.
Parents’ Choice Award
Ellis, Deborah. (2004). Three wishes: Palestinian and Israeli children speak. Toronto:
Groundwood. Ellis includes both informative writing and interviews.
Fitzpatrick, Marie-Louise. (1998). The long march: The Choctaw’s gift to Irish famine
relief. Hillsboro, OR: Beyond Words. One oppressed people’s gift to another.
Freedman, Russell. (1980). Immigrant kids. New York: Dutton. Late 1800s and early
1900s.
Granfield, Linda. (2001). 97 Orchard Street, New York: Stories of immigrant life.
Photographs by Arlene Alda. Plattsburgh, NY: Tundra/Lower East Side Tenement
Museum. Immigrants from Eastern and Western Europe in the early twentieth
century.
Holliday, Laurel (Ed.). (1998). Children of Israel, children of Palestine: Our own true
stories. New York: Pocket Books. Like Ellis, Holliday gives voice to children
growing up in traumatic circumstances.
Hoobler, Dorothy & Thomas Hoobler. (2003). We re Americans: Voices of the immigrant
experience. New York: Scholastic. A history of immigration to the United States.
Joselit, Jenna Weissman. (2001). Immigration and American religion. New York: Oxford
University Press. The history of those who came to America for religious reasons.
Kurelek, William, & Margaret S. Engelhart. (1985). They sought a new world: The story
of European immigration to North America. Toronto: Tundra. The great Canadian
artist captures visually the aspirations of immigrants.
Kurelek, William. (1975). A prairie boy’s summer. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. One of
Canada’s most celebrated artists captures a unique time and landscape.
Kurelek, William. (1973). A prairie boy’s winter. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. On their
own, children built their own ice rinks, and found other ways to play in, work in,
and love the vast Canadian plains landscape.
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Logan, Harriet. (2002). Unveiled: Voices of women in Afghanistan. New York:
HarperCollins/ReganBooks. Logan visited Afghanistan before and after the
Taliban; she captures women’s views on both sets of circumstances. YA
crossover
Meltzer, Milton. (2003). Bound for America: The story of European immigrants. New
York: Cavendish. A history of the waves of immigrants.
Naidoo, Beverley. (2004). Making it home: Real-life stories from children forced to flee.
New York: Dial. Her explanation of the Taliban is inaccurate; however, her
interviews with children worldwide are insightful.
Santos, Edward J. (2002). Everything you need to know if you and your parents are new
Americans. New York: Rosen. Helpful to those newly arrived.
Takaki, Ronald. (1994). Spacious dreams: The first wave of Asian immigration. Adapted
by Rebecca Stefoff. Philadelphia: Chelsea. A brilliant historian chronicles Asian
immigration, including a discussion of how Asian Pacific Americans often
experience the “forever foreign” syndrome.
Temple, Bob. (2003). The Arab Americans. Philadelphia: Mason Crest. A history of Arab
immigration, including the changes after September 11, (2001).
Walgren, Judy. (1998). The lost boys of Natinga: A school for Sudan’s young refugees.
Boston: Houghton Mifflin. Walgren’s background as a photojournalist makes this
book and its photography an exceptional contribution to the literature on the Lost
Boys of the Sudan.
Wilkes, Sybella. (1994). One day we had to run! Refugee children tell their stories in
words and paintings. Brookfield, CT: Millbrook. Wilkes’s work has been used
effectively by eighth grade teacher, Rob Cohen.
Wolf, Bernard. (2003). Coming to America: A Muslim family’s story. New York: Lee &
Low. This helpful book does much to explain the ordinary lives of most Muslims.
2004 Notable Social Studies Trade Book for Young People
Picture Books
Argueta, Jorge, & Carl Angel (Illus.). (2003). Xochitl and the flowers/Xóchitl, la Niña de
las flores. San Francisco: Children’s Book Press.
After fleeing war torn El Salvador, a family that tries to recreate the beauty and
memory of flowers from their own country runs into trouble with a landlord, who
resists their selling the flowers. The community bands together to help the
landlord see that flowers for sale on a vacant lot is preferable to what existed
before the changes they made. Based on a true story.
Beckwith, Kathy, & Lea Lyon(Illus). (2005). Playing war. Gardiner, ME: Tilbury House.
When his new friends in his new country want to play war, Sameer bows out. The
following day, after he explains his experience of war in his home country where
he lost his parents, his new friends understand why he does not want to play war.
Carling, Amelia Lau. (1998). Mama and papa have a store. New York: Dial. Chinese
immigrants in Guatemala.
1998 Américas Award for Children’s and Young Adult Literature
1999 Pura Belpré Illustrator Honor
Chapra, Mimi, & Viví Escrivá (Illus.). (2006). Sparky’s bark/El ladrido de sparky. New
York: HarperCollins. A dog in Ohio helps Lucy learn English.
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Connor, Leslie, & Mary Azarian (Illus.). (2004). Miss Bridie chose a shovel. Boston:
Houghton Mifflin. Leaving for America, Miss Bridie chose to bring, out of all her
possessions, a shovel.
Currier, Katrina Saltonstall, & Gabhor Utomo (Illus.). (2005). Kai’s journey to gold
mountatin: An angel island story. Tiburon, CA: Angel Island Association. One of
the few picture books on a child’s experience as an immigrant on Angel Island in
early twentieth century.
Dole, Mayra L, & Tonel (Illus.). (2003). Drum, chavi, drum!/ ¡Toca, chavi, toca! San
Francisco: Children’s Book Press. An immigrant Cuban girl challenges the mores
that only boys can play drum. A readers theater adaptation is available; email
[email protected].
Elya, Susan Middleton, & Felipe Davalos (Illus.). (2002). Home at last. New York: Lee
& Low. Ana, who immigrates with her family from Mexico, gradually adjusts to
America, then helps her mother adjust by helping her learn English.
Gunning, Monica, & Elaine Pedlar (Illus.). (2004). A shelter in our car. San Francisco:
Children’s Book Press. A widowed Jamaican mother and her daughter experience
homelessness in the United States. Pedlar’s accompanying expressionistic
paintings are magnificent.
Hazen, Barbara Shook, & Emily Arnold McCully (Illus.). (2003). Katie’s wish. New
York: Dial. Katie unsuspectingly wishes for potatoes to disappear.
Herrera, Juan Felipe, & Honorio Robledo Tapia (Illus.). (2003). Super Cilantro girl/La
superniña del cilantro. San Francisco: Children’s Book Press. Problems with the
green card are told in this fantasy picture book with cartoon art.
Herrera, Juan Felipe, & Elizabeth Gómez (Illus.). (2000). The upside down Bboy/El niño
de cabeza. San Francisco: Children’s Book Press. Migrant parents move to town
so their child can go to school; for awhile, he feels “upside down.”
2000 Smithsonian Notable Book for Children
Hoffman, Mary, & Karin Littlewood (Illus.). (2002). The olour of home. London: Frances
Lincoln. A Somalian refugee child now living in the United Kingdom through his
paintings relives the terror of war and begins to find healing and hope.
Khan, Rukhsana, & Ronald Himler (Illus.). (1988). The roses in my carpets. Markham,
Ontario: Fitzhenry and Whiteside. Upon arrival in a refugee camp, a young boy
continues the Afghan tradition of making beautiful carpets, which provides
comfort for him and his family during illness and trouble.
Kilborne, Sarah S, & Melissa Sweet (Illus.). (1999). Leaving Vietnam: The journey of
Tuan Ngo, a boat boy. Ready-to-Read Series. New York: Simon & Schuster. This
is one of the few easy readers which feature a refugee as the protagonist.
Krishnaswami, Uma, & Soumya Sitaraman (Illus.). (2003). Chachaji’s cup. San
Francisco: Children’s Book Press. All a boy’s uncle has left from the historic
move of Hindus into India and Muslims into Pakistan is a cup.
Laínez, René Colato, & Anthony Accardo (Illus.). (2004). Waiting for Pápa/Esperando a
Papá. Houston, TX: Arte Público/Piñata Books. An El Salvadoran boy waits for
his father to immigrate.
Lofthouse, Liz, & Robert Ingpen (Illus.). (2007). Ziba came on a boat. La Jolla, CA:
Kane/Miller.
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Nye, Naomi Shihab, & Nancy Carpenter (Illus.). (1994). Sitti’s secrets. New York: Four
Winds.
An American girl visits her Palestinian grandmother. Though
unable to speak each other’s languages, the two find other, loving ways to
communicate.
Pérez, Amada, & Maya Christina Gonzalez (Illus.). (2002). My diary from here to there.
Francisco: Children’s Book Press. A girl’s diary about her feelings of moving
from Mexico.
2004 Pura Belpré Author Honor
Pérez, L. King, & Robert Casilla (Illus.). (2002). First day in grapes. New York: Lee &
Low. A third grader who starts in a new school finds he has the resources to help
him cope.
2004 Pura Belpré Illustrator Honor
Recorvits, Helen, & Gariela Swiatkowksa (Illus.). (2003). My name is Yoon. New York:
Frances Foster. Yoon, who is from Korea, struggles with her name in America.
Robles, Anthony D, & Carl Angel (Illus.). (2003). Lakas and the Manilatown Fish/Si
Lakas at ang Isdang Manilatown. Eloisa D. de Jesus and Magdalena de Guzman
(Trans.). San Francisco: Children’s Book Press. A Filipino boy has a magical
adventure with a fish. Readers theater adaptation is available at
http://www.cbookpress.org.
Rodríguez, Luis J, & Carlos Vázquez (Illus.). (1998). América is her name. Willimantic,
CT: Curbstone. América, a Mixteca Indian from Oaxaca, finds expression and
comfort in writing poetry when dealing with urban poverty.
Shin, Sun Yung, & Kim Cogan (Illus.). (2004). Cooper’s lesson. San Francisco:
Children’s Book Press. A bi-racial, Korean child negotiates his identity and
language.
Tran, Truong, & Ann Phong (Illus.). (2003). Going home, coming home. San Francisco:
Children’s Book Press. A Vietnamese American girl’s fears about her first trip to
Vietnam are quickly quelled when she meets her Vietnamese grandmother.
Williams, Mary, & R. Gregory Christie (Illus.). (2005). Brothers in hope: The story of the
lost boys of Sudan. New York: Lee & Low. Based on the boys the author met in a
refugee camp, this story tells of the thousands of boys made orphans and
homeless by war. In order to survive, they organized themselves into smaller
groups with some of older boys “adopting” a younger child.
2006 Coretta Scott King Illustrator Honor
Yang, Belle. (2004). Hannah is my name. Cambridge, MA: Candlewick. Nai-Li gives up
her beautiful name to become Hannah in the United States, where she and her
family face the challenge of adjusting while waiting for their green cards.
Yazzie, Evangeline Parsons, & Irving Toddy (Illus.). (2005). Dzání Yázhí Naazbaa’:
Little woman warrior who came home: A story of the Navajo long walk. Flagstaff,
AZ: Salinas Bookshelf. A picture book about the Navajo Long Walk, which
began in 1863, told by the Navajo.
Yee, Paul, & Harvey Chan (Illus.). (1996). Ghost train. Toronto: Groundwood. A girl
uses her artistic gifts to honor those who died in railroad construction, including
her own father.
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Yee, Paul, & Jan Peng Wang (Illus.). (2004). A song for Ba. Toronto: Douglas &
McIntrye. A boy has mixed feelings about his father playing a woman’s role in
Chinese opera.
Yin, & Chris K. Soentpiet(Illus.). (2001). Coolies. New York: Philomel. Often unknown
and unappreciated, thousands of Chinese laborers helped construct the
transcontinental railroad.
2004 Asian/Pacific American Honorable Mention for Illustration in Children’s
Literature
Youme. (2004). Sélavi: A Haitian story of hope. El Paso, TX: Cinco Puntos. A young boy
finds other Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Port-au-Prince, where they
establish a radio station with the help of Aristide.
Picture Book Biographies
Aliki. (1998). Marianthe’s story one: Painted words and Marianthe’s story two: Spoken
memories. New York: Greenwillow. A priceless picture book based on Aliki’s
own experiences, in which a Greek family escapes to the United States. Story One
depicts Marianthe’s difficulties as an immigrant child in school; she is fortunate
enough to have a teacher who helps her make the adjustment, as well as taking
note of the art abilities that help her express and communicate her feelings,
including her hurt feelings when other children call her stupid for not speaking the
language. Story Two provides the historical context of Greek refugees.
1999 Jane Addams Picture Book Award
Brown, Monica, & Rafael López (Illus.). (2004). My name is Celia: The life of Celia
Cruz/Me llamo Celia: La vida de Celia Cruz. Flagstaff, AZ: Luna Rising. The
Cuban salsa singer.
2004 Américas Award for Children’s and Young Adult Literature
Cha, Dia. (1996). Dia’s story cloth: The Hmong people’s journey of freedom. Stitched by
Chue and Nhia Thao Cha. New York: Lee & Low and Denver Museum of Natural
History. Chronicles the plight of the Hmong people as they fled from country.
Both men and women embroider the story cloths, upon which this book is based.
Krull, Kathleen, & Yuyi Morales (Illus.). (2003). Harvesting hope: The story of Cesar
Chavez. San Diego: Harcourt. Chavez bravely started and led the United Farm
Workers.
2004 Carter G. Woodson Honor Book—Elementary Level
2004 Jane Addams Picture Book Award
2004 Pura Belpré Honor for Illustration
2004 Notable Social Studies Trade Book for Young People
Mora, Pat, & Beatriz Vidal (Illus.). (2002). A library for Juana: The world of Sor Juana
Ines. New York: Knopf. Argentinian-born Vidal used a microscope to paint the
pictures.
2002 Tomás Rivera Mexican American Children’s Book Award
Mora, Pat, & Raul Colón (Illus.). (1997). Tomás and the library lady. New York: Knopf.
1997 Tomás Rivera Mexican American Children’s Book Award
Say, Allen. (1993). Grandfather’s journey. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
1994 Caldecott Medal Winner
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1994 Boston Globe-Horn Book Award for Excellence in Children’s Literature/
Picture Book
Schanzer. Rosalyn. (2000). Escaping to America: A true story. New York: HarperCollins.
About a family from Poland in the early twentieth century.
Wilkes, Sybella. (1994). One day we had to run! refugee children tell their stories in
words and paintings. Brookfield, CT: Millbrook. Stories from the Sudan,
Somalia, Ethiopia, and Rwanda.
Short Stories
Armstrong, Jennifer (Ed.). (2002). Shattered: Stories of children and war. New York:
Knopf. Stories about refugees and war by award-winning authors.
2003 Notable Social Studies Trade Book for Young People
Gallo, Donald. (2004). First crossing: Stories about teen immigrants. Cambridge, MA:
Candlewick. Stories of teen immigrants from around the world.
Ortiz Cofer, Judith. (1995). An island like you: Stories of the Barrio. New York: Orchard.
Immigrants from Puerto Rico.
1996 Pura Belpré Author Medal
Soto, Gary. (1990). Baseball in April. San Diego: Harcourt. Hispanic young people
growing up in Fresno, California.
1996 Pura Belpré Author Honor
Fine Arts: Drama
Quan, Betty. (1996). One ocean. In: Beyond the pale: Dramatic writing from first nations
writers and writers of colour, Yvette Nolan, Betty Quan, George Bwanik
Seremba, eds. Toronto: Playwrights Canada Press. Interweaves with the myth of
the Jingwei bird; eight pages long.
Yep, Laurence. (1993). Dragonwings. New York: Dramatist Play Service. (adaptation of
the novel)
Poetry
Caraballo, Samuel, & Pablo Torrecilla (Illus.). (2002). Estrellita se despide de su
isla/Estrellita says good-bye to her island. Houston, TX: Arte Público. Estrellita
lingers over her beloved island before immigrating to the United States. An
“unchoreographed” choral reading is available; email [email protected].
Dawes, Kwame Senu, & Tom Feelings (Illus.). (2004). I saw your face. New York: Dial.
A poem for those of African descent living in all parts of the world.
Gunning, Monica, & Ken Condon (Illus.). (2004). America, my new home. Honesdale,
PA: Boyds Mills. A Caribbean girl captures her feelings in poems.
Izuki, Steven, & Fukuda McCoy (Illus.). (1994). Believers in America: Poems about
Americans of Asian and Pacific islander descent. Chicago: Children’s Press.
Lazarus, Emma. “The New Colossus.” Choral Reading is available; email
[email protected].
Mak, Kam. (2002). My chinatown: One year in poems. New York: HarperCollins. A boy
who has moved from China.
Nye, Naomi Shihab, & Dan Yaccarino (Illus.). (2000). Come with me: Poems for a
journey. New York: Greenwillow.
12
Nye, Naomi Shihab (Ed.). (1995). The tree is older than you are: A bilingual gathering of
poems & stories with paintings by Mexican artists. New York: Simon & Schuster.
1996 Notable Book for a Global Society
Perl, Lila. (2003). To the golden mountain: The story of the Chinese who built the
transcontinental railroad. New York: Benchmark.
Internet Resources
Get Nosey with Aunt Rosie, How to conduct an oral history interview:
http://www.genealogy.com/70_tipsoral.html?Welcome=1035842278