Essential Questions:
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Why is it important to consider human rights when discussing immigration?
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Why do people leave their home country and emigrate to the United States without documentation?
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What are the paths immigrants without documentation take to arrive to the U.S. and the challenges they face?
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What are some challenges that undocumented immigrants encounter once they arrive in the U.S.?
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Children's Books Available
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Going Home by Christmas is coming and Carlos and his family are going home-driving south across the border to Mexico. But Mexico doesn't seem like home to Carlos, even though he and his sisters were born there. Can home be a place you don't really remember? At first, La Perla doesn't seem very different from the other villages they pass through. But then Carlos is swept into the festivities by Grandfather, Aunt Ana, and the whole village. Finally, Carlos begins to understand Mama and Papa's love for the place they left behind, and realizes that home can be anywhere, because it stays in the hearts of the people who love you. Eve Bunting and David Diaz-the Caldecott Medal-winning team behind Smoky Night- collaborated once again to create a dazzling picture book that glows with holiday joy and the spirit of Mexico.ISBN: 9780064435093Publication Date: 1998-08-22 -
Pancho Rabbit and the Coyote by In this allegorical picture book, a young rabbit named Pancho eagerly awaits his papa's return. Papa Rabbit traveled north two years ago to find work in the great carrot and lettuce fields to earn money for his family. When Papa does not return, Pancho sets out to find him. He packs Papa's favorite meal--mole, rice and beans, a heap of warm tortillas, and a jug of aguamiel--and heads north. He meets a coyote, who offers to help Pancho in exchange for some of Papa's food. They travel together until the food is gone and the coyote decides he is still hungry . . . for Pancho! Duncan Tonatiuh brings to light the hardship and struggles faced by thousands of families who seek to make better lives for themselves and their children by illegally crossing the border. Praise for Pancho Rabbit and the Coyote STARRED REVIEWS "Tonatiuh's great strength is in the text. No word is wasted, as each emotion is clearly and poignantly expressed. The rabbits' future is unknown, but their love and faith in each other sustains them through it all. Accessible for young readers, who may be drawn to it as they would a classic fab≤ perfect for mature readers and the classroom, where its layers of truth and meaning can be peeled back to be examined and discussed. An incandescent, humane and terribly necessary addition to the immigrant-story shelf." --Kirkus Reviews, starred review "In both prose and art, Tonatiuh expertly balances folkloric elements with stark, modern realities; Pancho Rabbit's trip has the feel of a classic fable or fairy tale, with the untrustworthy coyote demanding more and more of him." --Publishers Weekly, starred review "The book shows the fragility of making a living, the desperation that many migrants experience, and the deep family ties that bind the characters. Classrooms studying the migrant experience will find plenty to discuss here." --School Library Journal "This will spark strong responses and needed discussion." --Booklist "Tonatiuh is so careful in weaving his allegory that his empathetic contemporary tale feels like age-old folklore, with simple but compelling text and a step-by-step escalation of the story through gripping, kid-understandable challenges." --The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books Awards Pura Belpr#65533; Author and Illustrator Honor book 2014 New York Public Library's annual Children's Books list: 100 Titles for Reading and Sharing 2013 Kirkus Best Books of 2013 Best Multicultural Children's Books 2013 (Center for the Study of Multicultural Children's Literature) Notable Children's Books from ALSC 2014 Notable Books for a Global Society Book Award 2014ISBN: 1419705830Publication Date: 2013-05-07 -
Tomas and the Library Lady by A Common Core Exemplar Text by an award-winning author-illustrator team Tom#65533;s is a son of migrant workers. Every summer he and his family follow the crops north from Texas to Iowa, spending long, arduous days in the fields. At night they gather around to hear Grandfather's wonderful stories. But before long, Tom#65533;s knows all the stories by heart. "There are more stories in the library,"Papa Grande tells him. The very next day, Tom#65533;s meets the library lady and a whole new world opens up for him. Based on the true story of the Mexican-American author and educator Tom#65533;s Rivera, a child of migrant workers who went on to become the first minority Chancellor in the University of California system, this inspirational story suggests what libraries--and education--can make possible. Raul Col#65533;n's warm, expressive paintings perfectly interweave the harsh realities of Tom#65533;s's life, the joyful imaginings he finds in books, and his special relationships with a wise grandfather and a caring librarian. "A gentle text and innovative artwork. . . . While young readers and future librarians will find this an inspiring tale, the end note gives it a real kick: the story is based on an actual migrant worker [Tom#65533;s Rivera] who became chancellor of a university--where the library now bears his name."--Publishers WeeklyISBN: 0375803491Publication Date: 2000-02-22 -
La Llaman America by Una nina de nueve anos, America Soliz, vive con su familia en el Barrio Pilsen de Chicago. Echa de menos su hogar en Mexico y se siente descontenta en la escuela, donde experimenta el prejuicio contra los inmigrantes mexicanos. America se siente en la fila de atras del salon de clase y se la pasa sonando con su aldea en Oaxaca hasta que un dia un poeta, el Sr. Aponte, visita la clase. "Todos llevamos le poesia por dentro," le dice el Sr. Aponte a la clasee inspira a America a escribir. "Escriban en espanol o en ingles," exhortael. America escribe cuentos y poemas, aun cuando su padre dice que es una manera poco practica de utilizar el tiempo. Tanto el tio como la madre de America disfrutan los cuentos de la chica, yesta descubre para si lo que el Sr. Aponte ha dicho en clase. "Cuando se usan las palabras para compartir los sentimientos con otra persona se es poeta y los poetas pertenecen a todo el mundo." A traves de la escritura, America se siente "en casa" en el Barrio Pilsen. "ISBN: 9781880684412Publication Date: 1998-04-01 -
Amigos del Otro Lado by "Did you come from the other side? You know, from Mexico?" So begins the friendship between Prietita and Joaquin, the young boy who, with his mother, has crossed the Rio Grande River to Texas in search of a new life. Prietita, a brave young Mexican American girl, defends Joaquin from the neighborhood kids who taunt him with shouts of "mojado" or "wetback." But what can she do to protect Joaquin and his mother from the Border Patrol as the van cruises slowly up the street toward their hiding place? Writer Gloria Anzaldua is a major Mexican American literary voice. Illustrator Consuelo Mendez is a noted Latin American artist. Both grew up in South Texas. In this, their first collaboration, they have captured not only the hardship of daily life on the border, but also the beauty of the landscape and the dignity and generosity of spirit that the Mexican Americans and the Mexican immigrants share.ISBN: 9780892391301Publication Date: 1997-06-03 -
Almost a Woman by From the barrios of Brooklyn to the stage at the High School of Performing Arts and later to Harvard,Almost a Woman continues Esmeralda Santiago's amazing story of a young woman caught between two worlds. The oldest of eleven children, she is kept on such a strict leash by her powerful mother that at the age of seventeen she had not yet gone on a date. By no means sheltered however, she is experienced in the harsh realities of welfare offices, beaten up by jealous classmates at junior high school, and taunted by her brothers and sisters as she struggles to learn 'Eastern Standard English.' She eventuallybreaks loose and elopes with a mysterious, perhaps dangerous, Turkish entrepreneur.Almost a Woman is a tale of transformation, comedy, and survival, both a search for independence and cultural identity as well as a mother/daughter struggle of heroic dimensions. Santiago's fans will eagerly embrace this long-awaited volume.ISBN: 0738200433Publication Date: 1998-08-27 -
Barefoot Heart by Autobiography. Latino/a Studies. BAREFOOT HEART is a vividly told autobiographical account of the life of a child growing up in a family of migrant farm workers. Elva Trevino Hart was born in south Texas to Mexican immigrants and spent her childhood moving back and forth between Texas and Minnesota, eventually leaving that world to earn a master's degree in computer science/engineering. This is a beautiful book, one many of us teaching Laino/a memoir and autobiography have long been waiting for. It is here at last, dear reader, in your hands. To be read and reread, savored to the last word. I extend a heartfelt welcome to the author and her beautiful book - Virgil Suarez, author of HAVANA THURSDAYS.ISBN: 0927534819Publication Date: 1999-05-01 -
The Circuit by After dark in a Mexican border town, a father holds open a hole in a wire fence as his wife and two small boys crawl through. So begins life in the United States for many people every day. And so begins this collection of twelve autobiographical stories by Santa Clara University professor Francisco Jiménez, who at the age of four illegally crossed the border with his family in 1947. "The Circuit," the story of young Panchito and his trumpet, is one of the most widely anthologized stories in Chicano literature. At long last, Jiménez offers more about the wise, sensitive little boy who has grown into a role model for subsequent generations of immigrants. These independent but intertwined stories follow the family through their circuit, from picking cotton and strawberries to topping carrots--and back agai--over a number of years. As it moves from one labor camp to the next, the little family of four grows into ten. Impermanence and poverty define their lives. But with faith, hope, and back-breaking work, the family endures. "A jewel of a book"--Rolando Hinojosa-Smith "These stories are so realistic they choke the heart."--Rudolfo AnayaISBN: 9780826317971Publication Date: 1997-10-01 -
Crossing Over by ISBN: 0805049088Publication Date: 2001-10-03A moving account of a family's odyssey by "one of the brightest voices of a new generation of Hispanic writers" ( Washington Post )The U.S.-Mexican border is one of the most permeable boundaries in the world, breached daily by Mexicans in search of work. Yet the migrant gambit is perilous. Thousands die crossing the line and those who reach "the other side" are branded illegals, undocumented and unprotected.In Crossing Over, Ruben Martinez puts a human face on the phenomenon, following the exodus of the Chávez clan, an extended Mexican family with the grim distinction of having lost three sons in a tragic border incident. He charts the migrants' progress from their small south-Mexican town of Cherán through the harrowing underground railroad to the tomato farms of Missouri, the strawberry fields of California, and the slaughterhouses of Wisconsin. He reveals the effects of immigration on the family left behind and offers a powerful portrait of migrant culture, an exchange that deposits hip hop in Indian villages while bringing Mexican pop to the northern plains. Far from joining the melting pot, Martinez argues, the migrants - as many as seven million in the U.S. - are spawning a new culture that will alter both countries as Latin America and the U.S. come increasingly to resemble each other.Intimate, compelling, written with passion and engagement, Crossing Over tells the epic story of a family, a town, a world in motion.
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The Devil's Highway by Chronicles the true story of twenty-six men who attempted to cross the Mexican border into the southern Arizona desert known as the Devil's Highway, describing how the men struggled to survive the desert's harsh conditions and why only twelve survived the journey.Call Number: 304.87 Urr (2004) -
Dying to Cross by From esteemed journalist Jorge Ramos, in what is indicative of the strained and even desperate times in which we live, comes a tragic story about the death of nineteen people, the final hours of their incredible ordeal, and the network of individuals (and countries) who profit from what is considered by many nothing less than modern-day slavery.
According to the latest reports, approximately three thousand people a day are caught attempting to cross the borders of the United States. Yet for every three thousand caught, hundreds actually do make it across and begin what they think will be a better life than the one left behind in their homelands.
The risks are immense for these individuals: the dangers lurking behind every decision made, every shady deal agreed upon, lead many toward the edge of mortality. Many fall off this edge and are later found dead -- an unmarked, unidentified corpse in a country where their dreams will never be realized, and, worse, their bodies never even identified.
On the hot and humid evening of May 13, 2003, at least seventy-three people boarded a tightly sealed trailer truck in what they hoped to be the final leg of an intricate journey toward their dream of living and working within the United States. The trailer they were riding in was to take them from Harlingen, Texas, to Houston, about three hundred miles away. The trailer never made it passed Victoria, Texas, a place that would become the site of the single worst immigrant tragedy in U.S. history.
With the passion and insightful analysis that characterizes his work, Emmy Award–winning journalist Jorge Ramos recounts the events of this chilling tragedy, as he tries to understand how something so inhumane can happen in the twenty-first century. Through interviews with survivors who had the courage to share their stories and conversations with the victims' families, and in examining the political implications of the incident on both U.S. and Mexican immigration policies, Jorge Ramos tells the story of one of the most heartbreaking episodes of our nation's history.ISBN: 0060789441Publication Date: 2005-04-05 -
Enrique's Journey by A Los Angeles Times journalist offers her 2003 Pulitzer Prize-winning story in book form--a timely account of a young Honduran boy's perilous quest to reunite with his mother in the United States. Includes 16-page color photo insert. Young Adult.Call Number: 921 NazISBN: 9781400062058Publication Date: Print 2006 -
Just Like Us by ISBN: 9781416538936Publication Date: 2009-09-22Written by a gifted journalist, a powerful account of four young Mexican women coming of age in Denver;two of whom have legal documentation, two of whom who don't; See the challenges they face as they attempt to pursue the American dream. This book takes readers on a compelling journey with four young women who have lived in the U.S. since childhood, delving deep into an American subculture and the complex and controversial politics that surround the issue of immigration. After a Mexican immigrant shoots and kills a local police officer, Colorado becomes the place where national arguments over immigration rage most fiercely. As the girl's lives play out against this backdrop of intense debate over whether they have any right to live here, readers will gain remarkable insight into both the power players and the most vulnerable members of society as they grapple with understanding one of the most complicated social issues of our times. Moving, timely, and passionately told, Just Like Us is a riveting story about girlhood, friendship, identity, and survival.
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Remix Conversations with Immigrant Teenagers Fourteen memorable portraits of the newest Americans reveal both the special challenges they face and how America itself is changing. The author's own immigrant family background gives her book the warm, intimate tone of a memoir.Call Number: 920 BUD (1999)ISBN: 0805051139 -
Teenage Refugees from Guatemala Speak OutCall Number: 304.8 REF (1997)ISBN: 0823924394
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Teenage Refugees from Mexico Speak OutCall Number: 302.8 REF (1997)
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Teenage Refugees from Mexico Speak OutCall Number: 304.8 REF (1997)
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Voices from the Fields by Oral histories from 9 children. Each interview demonstrates a strong sense of family devotion & provides a reminder that education is the key to escaping the fields.ISBN: 0316056332Publication Date: 1993-06-01 -
The New Kids by Some walked across deserts and mountains to get here. Others flew in on planes. One arrived after escaping in a suitcase. And some won’t say how they got here. These are “the new kids”: new to America and all the routines and rituals of an American high school, from lonely first days to prom. They attend International High School at Prospect Heights in Brooklyn, which is like most high schools in some ways—its halls are filled with students gossiping, joking, flirting, and pushing the limits of the school’s dress code—but all of the students are recent immigrants learning English. Together, they come from more than forty-five countries and speak more than twenty-eight languages. A singular work of narrative journalism, The New Kids chronicles a year in the life of a remarkable group of these teenage newcomers—a multicultural mosaic that embodies what is truly amazing about America. Hauser’s unforgettable portraits include Jessica, kicked out of her father’s home just days after arriving from China; Ngawang, who spent twenty-four hours folded up in a small suitcase to escape from Tibet; Mohamed, a diamond miner’s son from Sierra Leone whose arrival in New York City is shrouded in mystery; Yasmeen, a recently orphaned Yemeni girl who is torn between pursuing college and marrying so that she can take care of her younger siblings; and Chit Su, a Burmese refugee who is the only person to speak her language in the entire school. The students in this modern-day Babel deal with enormous obstacles: traumas and wars in their countries of origin that haunt them, and pressures from their cultures to marry or drop out and go to work. They aren’t just jostling for their places in the high school pecking order—they are carving out new lives for themselves in America. The New Kids is immersion reporting at its most compelling as Brooke Hauser takes us deep inside the dramas of five International High School students who are at once ordinary and extraordinary in their separate paths to the American Dream. Readers will be rooting for these kids long after reading the stories of where they came from, how they got here, and where they are going next.ISBN: 9781439163283Publication Date: 2011-09-20 -
Immigrant Voices, Volume 2 by ISBN: 9780451472816Publication Date: 2015-06-02A compelling collection of essays providing a comprehensive vision of immigration to the United States in the late twentieth and twenty-first centuries--the indispensable companion to Immigrant Voices. Filled with moving narratives by authors from around the world, Immigrant Voices: Volume II delivers a global and intimate look at the challenges modern immigrants confront. Their stories, told with pride, humor, trepidation, candor, and a touch of homesickness, offer rarely glimpsed perspectives on the difficult but ultimately rewarding quest to become an American. From the humorous experiences of Firoozeh Dumas, author of Funny in Farsi, to the poignant struggles of Oksana Marafioti, author of American Gypsy, this collection travels from Burundi to Afghanistan, Egypt to Havana, and Cambodia to Puerto Rico, to present incredible contemporary portraits of immigrants and illustrate that America is, and always will remain, a fresh and ever-changing melting pot. Features Firsthand Accounts.
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90 Miles to Havana by Call Number: Available from GDSISBN: 9781250005595 -
Crossers by From the acclaimed author ofActs of Faith(“A miracle . . . You can hardly conceive of a more affecting reading experience”—Houston Chronicle), a blistering new novel about the brutality and beauty of life on the Arizona-Mexico border and about the unyielding power of the past to shape our lives. Taking us from the turn of the twentieth century to our present day, from the impoverished streets of rural Mexico to the manicured lawns of suburban Connecticut, from the hot and dusty air of an isolated ranch to New York City in the wake of 9/11, Caputo gives us an impeccably crafted story about three generations of an Arizona family forced to confront the violence and loss that have become its inheritance. When Gil Castle loses his wife in the Twin Tower attacks, he retreats to his family’s sprawling homestead in a remote corner of the Southwest. Consumed by grief, he has to find a way to live with his loss in this strange, forsaken part of the country, where drug lords have more power than police and violence is a constant presence. But it is also a world of vast open spaces, where Castle begins to rebuild his belief in the potential for happiness—until he starts to uncover the dark truths about his fearsome grandfather, a legacy that has been tightly shrouded in mystery in the years since the old man’s death. When Miguel Espinoza shows up at the ranch, terrified after two friends were murdered in a border-crossing drug deal gone bad, Castle agrees to take him in. Yet his act of generosity sets off a flood of violence and vengeance, a fierce reminder of the fact that while he may be able to reinvent himself, he may never escape his history. Searingly dramatic, bold and timely,Crossersis Philip Caputo’s most ambitious and brilliantly realized novel yet.ISBN: 9780375411670Publication Date: 2009-10-06 -
The Crossing by Manny Bustos is an orphan, scrabbling for survival on the streets of Juaurez, Mexico. He sleeps in a cardboard box and fights with boys bigger and older than him for the coins American tourists through off the bridge between El Paso, Texas, and his town. Across the border, Sergeant Robert S. Locke, Vietnam vet and Army prefect, searches for a way to drown the cries for help of his dead friends, and finds it in Cutty Sark whiskey. On the night Manny dares the crossing, through the muddy shallows of the Rio Grande, past searchlights and border patrol, in the hopes of a better life, the two meet in an explosive encounter that fills the night with tension and endless possibilities.ISBN: 0440205824Publication Date: 1990-03-01 -
Crossing the Wire by When falling crop prices threaten his family with starvation, fifteen-year-old Victor Flores heads north in a desperate attempt to "cross the wire" from Mexico into the United States so he can find work and send money home. But with no "coyote money" to pay the smugglers who sneak illegal workers across the border, Victor must struggle to survive as he jumps trains, stows away on trucks, and hikes grueling miles through the Arizona desert. Victor's journey is fraught with danger, as he faces freezing cold, scorching heat, hunger, and dead ends. It's a gauntlet run by millions attempting to cross the border. Through Victor's often desperate struggle, Will Hobbs brings to life one of the great human dramas of our time.ISBN: 9780060741389Publication Date: 2006-04-04 -
Dark Water by A National Book Award Finalist A "Kirkus Reviews "Best Books for Teens Fifteen-year-old Pearl DeWitt lives in Fallbrook, California, where it's sunny 340 days of the year, and where her uncle owns a grove of 900 avocado trees. Uncle Hoyt hires migrant workers regularly, but Pearl doesn't pay much attention to them...until Amiel. From the moment she sees him, Pearl is drawn to this boy who keeps to himself, fears being caught by "la migra," and is mysteriously unable to talk. Then the wildfires strike. "From the Hardcover edition."ISBN: 9780375949739Publication Date: 2010-09-14 -
Enchanted Air by In this poetic memoir, which won the Pura Belpr#65533; Author Award, was a YALSA Nonfiction Finalist, and was named a Walter Dean Myers Award Honoree, acclaimed author Margarita Engle tells of growing up as a child of two cultures during the Cold War. Margarita is a girl from two worlds. Her heart lies in Cuba, her mother’s tropical island country, a place so lush with vibrant life that it seems like a fairy tale kingdom. But most of the time she lives in Los Angeles, lonely in the noisy city and dreaming of the summers when she can take a plane through the enchanted air to her beloved island. Words and images are her constant companions, friendly and comforting when the children at school are not. Then a revolution breaks out in Cuba. Margarita fears for her far-away family. When the hostility between Cuba and the United States erupts at the Bay of Pigs Invasion, Margarita’s worlds collide in the worst way possible. How can the two countries she loves hate each other so much? And will she ever get to visit her beautiful island again?Call Number: Available at WinnequahISBN: 9781481435222 -
Esperanza Rising by Pura Belpr#65533; Award Winner IRA Notable Book for a Global Society New York Public Library's 100 Titles for Reading and Sharing Esperanza thought she'd always live with her family on their ranch in Mexico--she'd always have fancy dresses, a beautiful home, and servants. But a sudden tragedy forces Esperanza and Mama to flee to California during the Great Depression, and to settle in a camp for Mexican farm workers. Esperanza isn't ready for the hard labor, financial struggles, or lack of acceptance she now faces. When their new life is threatened, Esperanza must find a way to rise above her difficult circumstances--Mama's life, and her own, depend on it.ISBN: 0439120411Publication Date: 2000-10-01 -
First Crossing Ten unforgettable short stories — written by award-winning authors for young adults — reflect the stunning diversity of experience among teenagers from many countries who make the United States their new home. It's hard enough to be a teenager, trying to fit in, trying to get along with your parents, trying to figure out how the world works. Being from a different culture makes everything that much harder. Fleeing from political violence in Venezuela, Amina and her family have settled in the United States. Sarah, adopted, is desperate to know her Korean birth parents. Maya is adapting just fine to life in the U.S. and wishes her strict Kazakh parents would follow suit. Adrian's new friends have some spooky — and hilarious — misconceptions about his Romanian origins. Whether they've transitioned from Mexico to the United States or from Palestine to New Mexico, the characters in this anthology have all ventured far and have faced innumerable challenges. Like the hundreds of immigrants who arrive on U.S. soil every year, each courageous teenager in FIRST CROSSING is unique. With stories by: Alden R. Carter Minfong Ho Marie G. Lee David Lubar Elsa Marston Lensey Namioka Jean Davies Okimoto Dian Curtis Regan Pam Muñoz Ryan Rita Williams-GarciaCall Number: SC Fir (2004)ISBN: 0763622494 -
Flowers in the Sky by Fifteen-year-old Nina Perez is faced with a future she never expected. She must leave her Garden of Eden, her lush island home in Samana, Dominican Republic, when she's sent by her mother to live with her brother, Darrio, in New York, to seek out a better life. As Nina searches for some glimpse of familiarity amid the urban and jarring world of Washington Heights, she learns to uncover her own strength and independence. She finds a way to grow, just like the orchids that blossom on her fire escape. From an acclaimed author, comes a powerful story of a girl who must make her way in a new world and find her place within it.ISBN: 9780060297947 -
A Glass of Water by Award-winning memoirist, poet, and activist, Jimmy Santiago Baca has established himself as an inspiring and important spokesperson for the Chicano experience, continually giving voice to the voiceless. His first novel, A Glass of Water is a gripping tale of family, loyalty, ambition, and revenge that takes us inside the tragedies unfurling along our country’s borders. Having made the nearly deadly journey across the border from Mexico, Casimiro and Nopal spend their days in the chili fields, building a life for their young sons. But when Nopal is brutally murdered, the boys are left to navigate this capricious new world without her. The elder son, Lorenzo, follows his father’s footsteps, devoting himself to the land, and falling in love with a strong-minded young woman who’s come to their migrant camp to study the lives of its workers. But Vito, hot-blooded and restless, breaks away to find fame as an itinerant boxer, gaining notoriety inside the ring and out. Eventually, the brothers’ journeys converge, bringing them face to face with a common enemy. A Glass of Water is a searing, heartfelt tribute to brotherhood, and an arresting portrait of the twisted paths people take to claim their piece of the American dream.ISBN: 9780802119223 -
How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents by Uprooted from their family home in the Dominican Republic, the four Garcia sisters-Carla, Sandra, Yolanda, and Sofia-arrive in New York City in 1960 to find a life far different from the genteel existence of maids, manicures, and extended family they left behind. What they have lost-and what they find-is revealed in the fifteen interconnected stories that make up this exquisite novel from one of the premiere novelists of our time.ISBN: 0452268060Publication Date: 1992-06-01 -
Illegal by A promise. Quincea#65533;era. A promise that we would be together on my fifteenth birthday . . . Instead, Nora is on a desperate journey far away from home. When her father leaves their beloved Mexico in search of work, Nora stays behind. She fights to make sense of her loss while living in poverty—waiting for her father's return and a better day. When the letters and money stop coming, Nora decides that she and her mother must look for him in Texas. After a frightening experience crossing the border, the two are all alone in a strange place. Now, Nora must find the strength to survive while aching for small comforts: friends, a new school, and her precious quincea#65533;era. Bettina Restrepo's gripping, deeply hopeful debut novel captures the challenges of one girl's unique yet universal immigrant experience.ISBN: 9780061953422Publication Date: 2011-03-08 -
Joyride by It's been several years since Carly Vega's parents were deported. Carly lives with her older brother, studies hard, and works the graveyard shift at a convenience store to earn enough to bring her parents back from Mexico. Arden Moss used to be the star quarterback at school. He used to date popular blondes and have fun pranking with his older sister. But now all that's changed, and Arden needs a new accomplice. Especially one his father, the town sheriff, will disapprove. All Carly wants, at first, is to stay under the radar and do what her family expects. All Arden wants is to not do what his family expects. When their paths cross, they each realize they've been living according to the wishes of others. Funny, romantic, and sometimes harsh. Just like real life.ISBN: 9781250039613 -
La Linea by Miguel's life is just beginning. Or so he thinks. Fifteen-year-old Miguel leaves hisrancho deep in Mexico to migrate to California acrossla linea, the border, in a debut novel from Ann Jaramillo of life-changing, cliff-hanging moments. But Miguel's carefully laid plans change suddenly when his younger sister Elena stows away and follows him. Together, Miguel and Elena endure hardships and danger on their journey of desperation and desire, loyalty and betrayal. An epilogue, set ten years after the events of the story, shows that you can't always count on dreams--even the ones that come true. Latino Interest.ISBN: 9781596431546Publication Date: 2006-04-04 -
The Radius of Us by Ninety seconds can change a life -- not just daily routine, but who you are as a person. Gretchen knows this, because that's how long a stranger held her body to the ground. When a car sped toward them and Gretchen's attacker told her to run, she recognized a surprising terror in his eyes. And now she doesn't even recognize herself. Ninety seconds can change a life -- not just the place you live, but the person others think you are. Phoenix Flores Flores knows this, because months after setting off toward the U.S. / Mexico border in search of safety for his brother, he finally walked out of detention. But Phoenix didn't just trade a perilous barrio in El Salvador for a leafy suburb in Atlanta. He became that person -- the one his new neighbors crossed the street to avoid.Call Number: ALSO available at Madison Public LibrariesISBN: 9781250096890 -
Red Glass by ONE NIGHT SOPHIE and her parents are called to a hospital where Pedro, 6-year-old Mexican boy, is recovering from dehydration. Crossing the border into Arizona with a group of Mexicans and a coyote, or guide, Pedro and his parents faced such harsh conditions that the boy is the only survivor. Pedro comes to live with Sophie, her parents, and Sophie's Aunt Dika, a refugee of the war in Bosnia. Sophie loves Pedro - her Principito, or Little Prince. But after a year, Pedro's surviving family in Mexico makes contact, and Sophie, Dika, Dika's new boyfriend, and his son must travel with Pedro to his hometown so that he can make a heartwrenching decision.ISBN: 9780385734660Publication Date: 2007-09-11 -
The Red Umbrella by The Red Umbrella is the moving tale of a 14-year-old girl's journey from Cuba to America as part of Operation Pedro Pan--an organized exodus of more than 14,000 unaccompanied children, whose parents sent them away to escape Fidel Castro's revolution. nbsp; In 1961, two years after the Communist revolution, Lucía Álvarez still leads a carefree life, dreaming of parties and her first crush. But when the soldiers come to her sleepy Cuban town, everything begins to change. Freedoms are stripped away. Neighbors disappear. Her friends feel like strangers. And her family is being watched. nbsp; As the revolution's impact becomes more oppressive, Lucía's parents make the heart-wrenching decision to send her and her little brother to the United States--on their own. nbsp; Suddenly plunked down in Nebraska with well-meaning strangers, Lucía struggles to adapt to a new country, a new language, a new way of life. But what of her old life? Will she ever see her home or her parents again? And if she does, will she still be the same girl? nbsp; The Red Umbrella is a moving story of country, culture, family, and the true meaning of home.ISBN: 9780375861901Publication Date: 2010-05-11 -
Return to Sender by After Tyler's father is injured in a tractor accident, his family is forced to hire migrant Mexican workers to help save their Vermont farm from foreclosure. Tyler isn’t sure what to make of these workers. Are they undocumented? And what about the three daughters, particularly Mari, the oldest, who is proud of her Mexican heritage but also increasingly connected her American life. Her family lives in constant fear of being discovered by the authorities and sent back to the poverty they left behind in Mexico. Can Tyler and Mari find a way to be friends despite their differences? In a novel full of hope, but no easy answers, Julia Alvarez weaves a beautiful and timely story that will stay with readers long after they finish it.ISBN: 9780375858383Publication Date: 2009-01-13 -
The Same Sky by A ripped-from-the-headlines story of two families on both sides of the American border. When Carla's grandmother dies and violence in their city escalates, Carla takes fate into her own hands and joins the thousands of children making their way across Mexico to America, facing great peril for the chance at a better life. "Poignant and bittersweet . . . Carla's journey is powerfully rendered and will stick with readers long after they close the book."--Publishers WeeklyCall Number: ALSO available at Madison & Monona Public LibrariesISBN: 9781101883761 -
The Secret Side of Empty by A 2014 National Indie Excellence Award winner A Junior Library Guild Selection, 2014 A School Library Journal Top 10 Latino Books of 2014 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.Call Number: Overdrive - eBookISBN: 9780762452057 -
Something in Between by It feels like there's no ground beneath me, like everything I've ever done has been a lie. Like I'm breaking apart, shattering. Who am I? Where do I belong? Jasmine de los Santos has always done what's expected of her. Pretty and popular, she's studied hard, made her Filipino immigrant parents proud and is ready to reap the rewards in the form of a full college scholarship. And then everything shatters. A national scholar award invitation compels her parents to reveal the truth: their visas expired years ago. Her entire family is illegal. That means no scholarships, maybe no college at all and the very real threat of deportation.Call Number: ALSO available at Madison & Monona Public Libraries; Available as eBook on Public Library Overdrive.ISBN: 9780373212385 -
The Tortilla Curtain by T.C. Boyle's "compelling" (The Chicago Tribune) novel about assimilation and the price of the American dream Topanga Canyon is home to two couples on a collision course. Los Angeles liberals Delaney and Kyra Mossbacher lead an ordered sushi-and-recycling existence in a newly gated hilltop community: he a sensitive nature writer, she an obsessive realtor. Mexican illegals Candido and America Rincon desperately cling to their vision of the American Dream as they fight off starvation in a makeshift camp deep in the ravine. And from the moment a freak accident brings Candido and Delaney into intimate contact, these four and their opposing worlds gradually intersect in what becomes a tragicomedy of error and misunderstanding.ISBN: 9780140238280Publication Date: 1996-09-01 -
Under the Mesquite by A novel-in-verse, this book tells the story of Lupita, the oldest of eight siblings, who is used to taking the lead and staying busy behind the scenes to help keep everyone together. But when she discovers Mami has been diagnosed with cancer, Lupita is terrified by the possibility of losing her mother, the anchor of her close-knit Mexican American family. Suddenly Lupita must face a whole new set of challenges, with new roles to play, and no one is handing her the script."ISBN: 9781600604294Publication Date: 2013-04-01 -
We Never Asked for Wings by For fourteen years, Letty Espinosa has worked three jobs to make ends meet while her mother raised her children. But now Letty's parents are returning to Mexico, and Letty must step up and become a mother for the first time in her life. Letty comes up with a plan to help the family escape the dangerous neighborhood and heartbreaking injustice that have marked their lives, but one wrong move could jeopardize everything she's worked for and her family's fragile hopes for the future.Call Number: ALSO available at Madison & Monona Public Libraries & as eBook on Public Library OverdriveISBN: 9780553392333 -
When the World Was Young by It's the summer of 1957. In the heart of Chicago, first-generation Italian immigrants Angela Rosa and Agostino Peccatori are caught between worlds. Far from home and with five children born in the United States, the Peccatori family is left clinging to old country ways in an era of upending change. The events of a single tragic evening bring all their lives to a sudden and irreversible standstill. Haunted by overwhelming loss, and drowning in years of secrets and deception, the family begins to unravel under the burden of guilt. As the Peccatori children move into adulthood, alienated from one another by grief and the complexity of their adolescence, their ties of kinship are put to the ultimate test. Bound together by blood yet indelibly marked by loss, the Peccatori family becomes a testament to the power of sacrifice, loyalty, and unconditional love. Told through alternating voices and beautifully crafted prose, When the World Was Young is a stunning, poignant tale of one family's will to survive.ISBN: 9780060857929Publication Date: 2007-05-22
Read it in Spanish/English
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Mas Alla de Mi by From the perspective of the young adult he once was, Francisco Jimenez describes the challenges he faces when continuing his education. During his college years, the very family solidarity that allows Francisco to survive as a child is tested. Not only must he leave his family when his goes to Santa Clara University, but while Francisco is there, his father abandons the family and returns to Mexico. This is the story of how Francisco copes with poverty, with his guilt over leaving his family financially strapped, with his self-doubt about succeeding academically, and with separation. Once again, his telling is honest and true—and inspiring.ISBN: 9780547250311Publication Date: 2009-09-07
The poet's voice...
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Borderlines: Drawing Border Lives by ISBN: 9781609400170Featuring 25 drawings in charcoal, conte crayons, and pastels, this handbook pairs portraits of people who live and work along the U.S.-Mexico border with bilingual poems that have been inspired by each of the drawings. A testimony to the people of the Rio Grande Valley, these drawings and poems capture their spirit, their quest for happiness, and their struggles to overcome economic hardship. This remarkable book highlights characters such as the "young street musician," the "six-year-old street vendor," and the "wise woman with rings." Compassionate and aesthetically compelling, this record raises awareness about social and cultural issues associated with border life, such as education, literacy, and poverty, and fosters cross-cultural understanding.
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Red Hot Salsa by i think in spanish i write in english i want to go back to puerto rico, but i wonder if my kink could live in ponce, mayag#65533;ez and carolina tengo las venas aculturadas escribo en spanglish abraham in espa#65533;ol --from "My Graduation Speech," by Tato Laviera A new collection of bilingual poems from the bestselling editor ofCool Salsa Ten years after the publication of the acclaimedCool Salsa, editor Lori Marie Carlson has brought together a stunning variety of Latino poets for a long-awaited follow-up. Established and familiar names are joined by many new young voices, and Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Oscar Hijuelos has written the Introduction. The poets collected here illuminate the difficulty of straddling cultures, languages, and identities. They celebrate food, family, love, and triumph. In English, Spanish, and poetic jumbles of both, they tell us who they are, where they are, and what their hopes are for the future.ISBN: 9780805076165Publication Date: 2005-04-01 -
Laughing Out Loud, I Fly by From U.S. Poet Laureate Juan Felipe Herrera, one of the most prominent Chicano poets writing today, here are poems like sweet music. Awarded the Pura Belpré Honor for this book, Herrera writes in both Spanish and English about the joy and laughter and sometimes the confusion of growing up in an upside-down, jumbled-up world—between two cultures, two homes. With a crazy maraca beat, Herrera creates poetry as rich and vibrant as mole de olé and pineapple tamales...an aroma of papaya...a clear soup with strong garlic, so you will grow, not disappear. Herrera's words are hot and peppery, and good for you. They show us what it means to laugh out loud until it feels like flying. Juan Felipe Herrera's vibrant poems dance across these pages in a dazzling explosion of two languages, English and Spanish. Skillfully crafted, beautiful, joyful, fun, the poems are paired with whimsical black-and-white drawings by Karen Barbour. The resulting collage fills the soul and celebrates a life lived between two cultures. Laughing out loud, I fly, toward the good things, to catch Mamá Lucha on the sidewalk, afterschool, waiting for the green-striped bus, on the side of the neighborhood store, next to almonds, José's tiny wooden mule, the wise boy from San Diego, teeth split apart, like mine in the coppery afternoon . . .ISBN: 9780060276041Publication Date: 1998-04-04 -
Cool Salsa by Growing up Latino in America means speaking two languages, living two lives, learning the rules of two cultures. Cool Salsa celebrates the tones, rhythms, sounds, and experiences of that double life. Here are poems about families and parties, insults and sad memories, hot dogs and mangos, the sweet syllables of Spanish and the snag-toothed traps of English. Here is the glory, and pain, of being Latino American.Latino Americans hail from Cuba and California, Mexico and Michigan, Nicaragua and New York, and editor Lori M. Carlson has made sure to capture all of those accents. With poets such as Sandra Cisneros, Martín Espada, Gary Soto, and Ed Vega, and a very personal introduction by Oscar Hijuelos, this collection encompasses the voices of Latino America. By selecting poems about the experiences of teenagers, Carlson has given a focus to that rich diversity; by presenting the poems both intheir original language and in translation, she has made them available to us all.As you move from memories of red wagons, to dreams of orange trees, to fights with street gangs, you feel Cool Salsa's musical and emotional cross rhythms. Here is a world of exciting poetry for you, y tú también.ISBN: 0805031359Publication Date: 1994-07-15
Immigrants in Our Own Land
BY JIMMY SANTIAGO BACA
We are born with dreams in our hearts,
looking for better days ahead.
At the gates we are given new papers,
ouroldclothesaretaken
and we are given overalls like mechanics wear.
We are given shots and doctors ask questions.
Then wegatherinanotherroom
where counselors orient us to the new land
we will now live in. We take tests.
Some of us were craftsmen in the old world,
good with our hands and proud of our work.
Others were good with their heads.
They usedcommonsenselikescholars
use glasses and books to reach the world.
But most of us didn’t finish high school.
The performer's voice...
Rowing to America by Kitty Chen (Play for two women)
Afro-Latino by Elizabeth Acevedo (Spoken Word Poetry)
What does an Illegal Immigrant Look Like by Christy Namee Eriksen (Poem)
"Bursting of photographs after trying to squeeze old memories" by Sonia Guinansaca (Spoken Word Poetry)
Juana's Poem by Alejandro Jimenez (Spoken Word Poetry)
Arizona by Ela Barton (Spoken Word Poetry)
Shelter, written by Marissa Chibas, directed by Martin Acosta, performed by the CalArts Center for New Performance
( Information | Performance Video)
Audio books...
The Book of Unknown Americans by
Checkout in Overdrive - MGHS
The Circuit by
Check out on PlayAway.
How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents by
Into the Beautiful North
Checkout on Overdrive - Public Library
The Same Sky by
Checkout on CD at Madison Public Library
We Never Asked for Wings by
Checkout in Overdrive - Public Library
Web Documentaries...
"Children Don't Migrate They Flee Event At The American Red Cross - ATEST". ATEST. N. p., 2016. Web. 22 Mar. 2017.
"One Family Faces the Immigration Debate." NYTimes.com Video Collection, 18 Aug. 2014. Global Issues in Context.
"The Hidden Life of an Undocumented US Immigrant." AFP News Footage, 2014. Global Issues in Context.
Zehr, Mary Ann. "'Unaccompanied Minors' Land in School." Education Week, 8 Nov. 2006, p. 24. Student Resources in Context
Cinema...
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The body of an unidentified immigrant is found in the Arizona Desert. In an attempt to retrace his path and discover his story, director Marc Silver and Gael Garcia Bernal embed themselves among migrant travelers on their own mission to cross the border, providing rare insight into the human stories, which are so often ignored in the immigration debate. |
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Tells the story of Negro who gets hired to smuggle a group of undocumented migrants into the United States. During the troubled crossing that lasts seven days across the Arizona desert, Negro now finds himself on the run from his former associates and the law. This is a movie that will allow the world to visualize the cruel tragedy that many undocumented immigrants suffer in the Arizona desert everyday. The scenes are based on real testimonies from those that have survived the journey across the devils highway. |
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Every year there are more than 400,000 American children who are torn away from their friends, schools and homes to pick the food we all eat. Zulema, Perla and Victor labor as migrant farm workers, sacrificing their own childhoods to help their families survive. This cinematic documentary profiles these three as they journey from the scorching heat of Texas onion fields to the winter snows of the Michigan apple orchards and back south to the humidity of Florida's tomato fields to follow the harvest. An intimate glimpse into the lives of these children who struggle to dream while working 12 14 hours a day, 7 days a week to feed America. |
Websites
37 Maps that Explain how America is a Nation of Immigrants (collection)
Amnesty International (organization)
DHS: Violence, poverty, is driving children to flee Central America to U.S. (Pew Research)
The High Cost and Diminishing Returns of a Border Wall (American Immigration Council) Factsheet.
Latin Americans' Motives for Migration (Gallup Polls)
Migrant Crisis: Why They're Fleeing, Where They're Going (Voice of America)
Protecting the Forcibly Displaced: Latin America's Evolving Refugee and Asylum Framework (Online Journal of the Migration Policy Institute)
Turning Migrants Into Criminals (Human Right's Watch)
What it's like to ride the 'Train of Death' from Mexico to the US (Business Insider)
Books We Don't Have
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Across a Hundred Mountains by Call Number: Available at Madison Public LibrariesISBN: 9780743269582Winner of the American Book Award, this is a stunning and poignant novel about a young girl who leaves her small town in Mexico to find her father, who left his family to find work in America--a story of migration, loss, and discovery. Reyna Grande puts a human face on the controversial issue of immigration, helping readers to better understand those who risk life and limb every day in pursuit of a better life. -
Bridge by ISBN: 9781467744829As the only English speaker in a family of undocumented immigrants, Jose handles everything from taking family members to the doctor to bargaining with the landlord. Plus he works two jobs. With all this responsibility, he's missing a lot of school. When he does make it, he falls asleep in class. José knows he has to turn things around if he wants to graduate from Rondo Alternative High School. Can he raise his grades enough to have a shot at college and a better life? Or will he be forced to drop out of school for good? -
Chasing the Moon by ISBN: 9780878396986Nadia Alvarez, a fifteen-year-old Mexican immigrant, travels from a remote and poverty-stricken village in southern Mexico with her family to the United States. They sneak illegally into the country through a drain pipe that connects Sonora, Mexico, to Arizona. As the family enters the country, the Border Patrol is waiting for them. All captured, except Nadia, she assumes the identity of her brother and is now alone in an unknown country and torn whether she should allow herself to be caught and reunited with her family or continue on in America and live her parents dream. This is a unique and unbiased examination of immigration and what it means to search for a better life. -
The Death of Josseline by Call Number: Available at Madison Public Libraries and on Overdrivc - Public LibrariesISBN: 9780807001301Undocumented migrants cross into Arizona in overwhelming numbers, a state whose anti-immigrant laws are the most stringent in the nation. And Arizona has the highest number of migrant deaths. Fourteen-year-old Josseline, a young girl from El Salvador who was left to die alone on the migrant trail, was just one of thousands to perish in its deserts and mountains. With a sweeping perspective and vivid on-the-ground reportage, Margaret Regan tells the stories of the people traveling back and forth across the border, migrants stranded in Mexican shelters and Border Patrol agents in Arizona. She camps out in the thorny wilderness with No More Deaths activists and meets with angry ranchers and vigilantes. -
I Lived on Butterfly Hill by Call Number: Available at Madison Public LibrariesISBN: 9781416994022An eleven-year-old's world is upended by political turmoil in this lyrically ambitious tale of exile and reunification from an award-winning poet, based on true events in Chile. Celeste is a dreamer. She lives peacefully in Valparaiso, Chile until one day when warships are spotted in the harbor and schoolmates start disappearing from class without a word. The country has been taken over by a government that declares artists, protestors, and anyone who helps the needy to be considered subversive and dangerous to Chile's future. So Celeste must go to America. This multicultural ode to the power of revolution, words, and love is both indelibly brave and heartwrenchingly graceful. -
Into the Beautiful North by Call Number: Available at Madison & Monona Public LibrariesISBN: 9780316025263Nineteen-year-old Nayeli works at a taco shop in her Mexican village and dreams about her father, who journeyed to theUS when she was young. Recently, it has dawned on her that he isn't the only man who has left town. In fact, there are almost no men in the village--they've all gone north. While watching The Magnificent Seven, Nayeli decides to go north herself and recruit seven men--her own "Siete Magn_ficos"--to repopulate her hometown and protect it from the bandidos who plan on taking it over. Filled with unforgettable characters and prose as radiant as the Sinaloan sun, Into the Beautiful North is the story of an irresistible young woman's quest to find herself on both sides of the fence. -
The Jaguar's Children by Call Number: Available at Madison & Monona Public LibrariesISBN: 9780544570221Hector is trapped. The water truck, sealed to hide its human cargo, has broken down. The coyotes have taken all the passengers' money for a mechanic and have not returned. Hector finds a name in his friend Cesar's phone with an American number. He must reach her. Over four days, as water and food run low, Hector tells how he came to this desperate place. His story takes us from Oaxaca -- its rich culture, its rapid change -- to the dangers of the border, exposing the tangled ties between Mexico and El Norte. It reminds us of the power of storytelling and the power of hope. -
Journey of Dreams by Call Number: Available at Madison Public LibrariesISBN: 9781845079642This is the story of how one family survives the Guatemalan army's 'scorched earth' campaign in the 1980s and how, in the midst of tragedy, suspicion and fear, their resilient love and loyalty - and Papa's storytelling - keeps them going. On their harrowing journey as refugees to the United States, the dramatic ebb and flow of events are mirrored in the tapestries of one daughter's dreams. "A story of family love, loyalty, bravery and dreams - a fast-moving book that I couldn't put down." Wendy Cooling -
Life, After by ISBN: 9780545151443Dani's life is changed forever when a terrorist attack in Buenos Aires kills her beloved aunt and unborn cousin. Since then, Argentina has crumbled quickly. The political upheaval, economic hardship, and emotional turmoil that ensue force Dani and her family to move to the United States. Dani must attend a new school, learn a new language, encounter fresh hardships, and deal with an angry father who seems like more of a stranger every day. Just when Dani is about to break, she find the most unlikely of friends--Jessica, a rich, spoiled New Yorker who has been teasing Dani since she arrived. Together, they learn how to heal in unexpected and surprising ways that change their lives and families forever. -
We Are Americans by Call Number: Available at Madison Public LibrariesISBN: 9781579223762Brought by their parents to the US as minors-many before they had reached their teens-they account for about one-sixth of the total undocumented population. Illegal through no fault of their own, some 65,000 undocumented students graduate from the nation's high schools each year. They cannot get a legal job, and face enormous barriers trying to enter college to better themselves-and yet America is the only country they know and, for many, English is the only language they speak. What future do they have? Through the inspiring stories of 16 students-from seniors in high school to graduate students-William Perez gives voice to the estimated 2.4 million undocumented students in the United States, and draws attention to their plight.
