Immigrant

Experiences in
Young Adult
Literature
Recommendations
Created by: Maddy Alpert and Maggie Doele
 What is this resource?
▣ This source is for teachers, educators, and
those working with multilingual learners
and other young people in grades 6-12.
▣ In this source, you will find 6-12 fiction
and nonfiction book recommendations
that center characters with immigrant
experiences, whether they are seeking
refuge from their country or are sharing
their experience as a second generation
immigrant.
▣ The books in this source are organized by
grade level, genre, as well as geographic
location! 2
 How do students benefit from these
texts?
“Books are sometimes windows, offering
views of worlds that may be real or imagined,
familiar or strange. These windows are also
sliding glass doors, and readers have only to
walk through in imagination to become part of
whatever world has been created and
recreated by the author. When lighting
conditions are just right, however, a window Image sourced from https://www.readearlyanddaily.org/

can also be a mirror. Literature transforms

human experience and reflects it back to us,
and in that reflection we can see our own lives
Books about immigrant
and experiences as part of the larger human
experiences benefit
experience. Reading, then, becomes a means
EVERYONE!
of self-affirmation, and readers often seek
their mirrors in books. (1990, p. ix)”
- Rudine Sims Bishop
Bishop, R. S. (1990). Mirrors, windows, and sliding glass doors. Perspectives, 6(3), ix-xi.
3
By providing literary mirrors for immigrant youth and ELLs (and windows for their peers), we can affirm
their unique identities and experiences while promoting an empathetic reading community.
4
 Click on the titles to link to their
slide with a book synopsis,
where to purchase this book,
Grades 6-8 Fiction Texts and more information!

1. Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo 9. The Gilded Ones by Namina Forna (West
(Dominican) African Inspired - Author is from Sierra Leone)
10. When Stars are Scattered by Victoria
2. Cuba 15 by Nancy Osa (Cuban) Jamieson & Omar Mohamed (Kenyan)
3. Furia by Yamile Saied Méndez (Argentinian) 11. Amal Unbound by Aisha Saeed (Pakistani)

4. Refugee by Alan Gratz (Cuban, Syrian, Jewish 12. Darius the Great is Not Okay by Adib
& German) Khorram (Irani)
13. Front Desk by Kelly Yang (Chinese)
5. We Are Not From Here by Jenny Torres
Sanchez (Guatemalan) 14. Inside Out and Back Again by Thanhha
Lai (Vietnamese)
6. With the Fire On High by Elizabeth Acevedo
(Afro-Puerto Rican) 15. Love, Hate, and Other Filters by Samira
Ahmed (Indian)
7. Yaqui Delgado Wants to Kick Your Ass by Meg
16. Patron Saints of Nothing by Randy
Medina (Cuban)
Ribay (Filipino)
8. Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi
(Nigerian Inspired)

5
 Fiction Grade 6-8:
Mapping Our Book Characters’ Homes & Ancestry

4
2,

4, 4
12 13
7 11
1 6 15
5 16
9 14
10
8

Click on a number to head

to the slide to learn more
about the book associated 3
with the location around
the world!
* Book #4 repeats because characters
emigrate from three geographic
locations in the novel 6
 Click on the titles to link to their slide
with a book synopsis, where to
Grades 9-12 Fiction Texts purchase this book, and more
information!

1. American Street by Ibi Zoboi (Haitian)

2. Enrique’s Journey by Sonia Nazario (Honduran)
3. The Field Guide to the North American Teenager by Ben Philippe (Canadian)
4. I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter by Erica Sánchez (Mexican)
5. The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo (Dominican)
6. The Radius of Us by Maria Marquardt (Salvadorian)
7. The Good Braider by Terry Farish (Sudanese)
8. We Need New Names by NoViolet Bulawayo (Zimbabwean)
9. A Very Large Expanse of Sea by Tahereh Mafi (Iraqi)
10. Exit West by Moshin Hamid (Pakistani influenced)
11. The Astonishing Color of After by Emily X.R. Pan (Taiwanese)
12. The Firehorse Girl by Kay Honeyman (Chinese)
13. The Gangster We Are All Looking For by Le Thi Diem Thuy (Vietnamese)
14. Parachutes by Kelly Yang (Chinese)
15. You Bring the Distant Near by Mitali Perkins (Indian)

7
 Fiction Grades 9-12
Mapping Our Book Characters’ Homes & Ancestry

14
4 5 9 10 12
1 15 11
6 7
2 13

8
Click on a number to head
to the slide to learn more
about the book associated
with the location around
the world!
8

Grade 6-12 Nonfiction Texts
1. Borderlands/La Frontera: The New
Mestiza by Gloria Anzaldúa
(Chicana)
2. I Was Their American Dream by
Malaka Gharib (Filipino and
Egyptian)
3. Americanized: Rebel Without a
Green Card (a memoir) by Sara
Saedi (Irani)
4. This Land is Our Land by Linda
Barrett Osborne (Indian)
Click on the titles to link to their
slide with a book synopsis,
where to purchase this book,
and more information!
5. Almost American Girl by Robin Ha
(Korean)
6. Denied, Detained, Deported: The
Dark Side of American Immigration by
Ann Bausum (Jewish & German,
Japanese, and Russian)
7. The Best We Could Do by Thi Bui
(Vietnamese)
8. They Called Us Enemy by George
Takei (Japanese American)
9. We Are Here to Stay: Voices of
Undocumented Young Adults by Susan
Kuklin (Colombian, Mexican, Ghanan,
Samoan, and Korean).
9
 Nonfiction Grades 6-12
Mapping Our Book Authors’/Characters’ Homes & Ancestry

6
6
9 6
5
8
1 3
2
9 4

7 2
9
9

9
Click on a number to head
to the slide to learn more
about the book associated
with the location around
the world!
* Books #2, #6, and #9 repeat because
characters connect to multiple
geographic locations. 10
Latin America
and the
Caribbean 6-8
Fiction
11
 Watch this
video to learn Camino Rios lives for the summers when
more! her father visits her in the Dominican
Republic. But this time, on the day when
his plane is supposed to land, Camino
arrives at the airport to see crowds of
crying people…

In New York City, Yahaira Rios is called to

the principal’s office, where her mother is
waiting to tell her that her father, her
hero, has died in a plane crash.

Separated by distance – and Papi’s

secrets – the two girls are forced to face a
new reality in which their father is dead
and their lives are forever altered. And
then, when it seems like they’ve lost
everything of their father, they learn of
each other.

1) Clap When You Land In a dual narrative novel in verse that

brims with both grief and love,

by Elizabeth Acevedo
award-winning and bestselling author
Elizabeth Acevedo writes about the
devastation of loss, the difficulty of
forgiveness, and the bittersweet bonds
Click the title that shape our lives.
to purchase
the book! Excerpt from: 12
http://www.acevedowrites.com/books-2
 Violet Paz has just turned fifteen, a pivotal
birthday in the eyes of her Cuban
grandmother. Fifteen is the age when a girl
enters womanhood, traditionally celebrating
the occasion with a quinceañero.
But while Violet is half Cuban, she’s also half
Follow this link
to author, Polish, and more importantly, she feels 100%
Nancy Osa's American. Except for her zany family’s passion
website to for playing dominoes, smoking cigars, and
learn more! dancing to Latin music, Violet knows little
about Cuban culture, nada about quinces,
and only tidbits about the history of Cuba.
So when Violet begrudgingly accepts
Abuela’s plans for a quinceañero–and as she
begins to ask questions about her Cuban
roots–cultures and feelings collide. The mere
mention of Cuba and Fidel Castro elicits her
grandparents’ sadness and her father’s anger.
Only Violet’s aunt Luz remains open-minded.
With so many divergent views, it’s not easy to

2) Cuba 15 by Nancy
know what to believe. All Violet knows is that
she’s got to form her own opinions, even if this
jolts her family into unwanted confrontations.
After all, a quince girl is supposed to embrace

Osa
responsibility–and to Violet that includes
understanding the Cuban heritage that binds
her to a homeland she’s never seen.

Excerpt from:
Click the title https://www.indiebound.org/book/9780385732338
to purchase
the book! 13
 Watch this
video with the In Rosario, Argentina, Camila Hassan lives a
author to learn double life.
more!
At home, she is a careful daughter, living within
her mother’s narrow expectations, in her
rising-soccer-star brother’s shadow, and under
the abusive rule of her short-tempered father.

On the field, she is La Furia, a powerhouse of skill

and talent. When her team qualifies for the
South American tournament, Camila gets the
chance to see just how far those talents can take
her. In her wildest dreams, she’d get an athletic
scholarship to a North American university.

But the path ahead isn’t easy. Her parents don’t

know about her passion. They wouldn’t allow a
girl to play fútbol—and she needs their
permission to go any farther. And the boy she
once loved is back in town. Since he left, Diego

3) Furia by Yamile
has become an international star, playing in Italy
for the renowned team Juventus. Camila doesn’t
have time to be distracted by her feelings for him.
Things aren’t the same as when he left: she has

Saied Méndez
her own passions and ambitions now, and La
Furia cannot be denied. As her life becomes more
complicated, Camila is forced to face her secrets
and make her way in a world with no place for
the dreams and ambition of a girl like her.
Click the title
to purchase Excerpt from: http://yamilesmendez.com/furia
the book! 14
 Watch this
video with the Three different kids.
author to learn
more! One mission in common: ESCAPE.

Josef is a Jewish boy in 1930s Nazi Germany. With

the threat of concentration camps looming, he
and his family board a ship bound for the other
side of the world…

Isabel is a Cuban girl in 1994. With riots and

unrest plaguing her country, she and her family
set out on a raft, hoping to find safety and
freedom in America…

Mahmoud is a Syrian boy in 2015. With his

homeland torn apart by violence and destruction,
he and his family begin a long trek toward
Europe…

All three young people will go on harrowing

journeys in search of refuge. All will face

4) Refugee by Alan unimaginable dangers–from drownings to

bombings to betrayals. But for each of them,
there is always the hope of tomorrow. And

Gratz
although Josef, Isabel, and Mahmoud are
separated by continents and decades, surprising
connections will tie their stories together in the
end.

Click the title Excerpt from:

to purchase * Refugee also takes place in Syria and https://www.alangratz.com/writing/refugee/
the book! Germany* 15
 Pulga has his dreams.
Chico has his grief.
Pequeña has her pride.

And these three teens have one another. But

Follow this link none of them have illusions about the town
to a video with they’ve grown up in and the dangers that
the author to surround them. Even with the love of family,
learn more threats lurk around every corner. And when
about this those threats become all too real, the trio knows
book! they have no choice but to run: from their
country, from their families, from their beloved
home.Crossing from Guatemala through
Mexico, they follow the route of La Bestia, the
perilous train system that might deliver them to
a better life–if they are lucky enough to survive
the journey. With nothing but the bags on their
backs and desperation drumming through their

5) We Are Not From

hearts, Pulga, Chico, and Pequeña know there is
no turning back, despite the unknown that
awaits them. And the darkness that seems to
follow wherever they go.

Here by Jenny Torres In this powerful story inspired by current events,

the plight of migrants at the U.S. southern
border is brought to painful, poignant, vivid life.

Sanchez An epic journey of danger, resilience, heartache,

and hope.

Click the title

to purchase Excerpt from:
the book! 16
https://jennytorressanchez.com/books/we-are-not-from-here
-2/
 Watch this
video to learn
more!

Ever since she got pregnant freshman

year, Emoni Santiago’s life has been
about making the tough
decisions—doing what has to be done for
her daughter and her abuela. The one
place she can let all that go is in the
kitchen, where she adds a little
something magical to everything she
cooks, turning her food into straight-up
goodness.

Even though she dreams of working as a

chef after she graduates, Emoni knows

6) With the Fire On that it’s not worth her time to pursue the
impossible. Yet despite the rules she
thinks she has to play by, once Emoni

High by Elizabeth
starts cooking, her only choice is to let
her talent break free
Excerpt from:

Acevedo http://www.acevedowrites.com/books-2

Click the title

to purchase
the book! 17
 Watch this
video to learn
more!

Yaqui Delgado Wants to Kick Your Ass.

That’s what some girl tells Piddy Sanchez
one morning. Piddy doesn’t even know
who Yaqui Delgado is, much less what
she’s done to get her mad. But Yaqui isn’t
kidding around. Paddy tries to focus on
finding out more about the father she’s
never met and balancing honors courses
with her job at the neighborhood hair
salon, but avoiding Yaqui and her gang
starts to take over Piddy’s life. She’s
forced to decide exactly who she is versus
who others are trying to make her

7) Yacqui Delgado become – and ultimately discovers a

rhythm that is all her own.

Wants to Kick Your Ass

Excerpt from:
https://megmedina.com/books/yaqui-delgado-wa
nts-to-kick-your-ass/

by Meg Medina
Click the title
to purchase
the book! 18
Africa 6-8
Fiction
19
 Watch this
video to learn
more! Zélie Adebola remembers when the soil of
Orïsha hummed with magic.
Burners ignited flames, Tiders beckoned
waves, and Zélie’s Reaper mother
summoned
forth souls.
But everything changed the night magic
disappeared. Under the orders of a ruthless
king, maji were killed, leaving Zélie without a
mother and her people without hope.
Now Zélie has one chance to bring back
magic and strike against the monarchy. With
the help of a rogue princess, Zélie must
outwit and outrun the crown prince, who is
hell-bent on eradicating magic for good.
Danger lurks in Orïsha, where snow
leopanaires prowl and vengeful spirits wait in

8) Children of Blood
the waters. Yet the greatest danger may be
Zélie herself as she struggles to control her
powers—and her growing feelings for an

and Bone by Tomi

enemy.
Excerpt from:
https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5727a8d6f699bb94
e2b170a4/t/5abee92f88251bcf7a09bd4a/1522460984823/

Adeyemi
CHILDREN+OF+BLOOD+AND+BONE+SCHOOL+GUIDE.p
df

Click the title

to purchase
the book! 20
 Watch this Sixteen-year-old Deka lives in fear and
video to learn anticipation of the blood ceremony that will
more! determine whether she will become a
member of her village. Already different from
everyone else because of her unnatural
intuition, Deka prays for red blood so she can
finally feel like she belongs.

But on the day of the ceremony, her blood

runs gold, the color of impurity–and Deka
knows she will face a consequence worse
than death.

Then a mysterious woman comes to her with

a choice: stay in the village and submit to her
fate, or leave to fight for the emperor in an
army of girls just like her. They are called
alaki–near-immortals with rare gifts. And
they are the only ones who can stop the
empire's greatest threat.

Knowing the dangers that lie ahead yet

yearning for acceptance, Deka decides to

9) The Gilded Ones by leave the only life she's ever known. But as
she journeys to the capital to train for the
biggest battle of her life, she will discover

Namina Forna
that the great walled city holds many
surprises. Nothing and no one are quite what
they seem to be–not even Deka herself.
Click the title Excerpt from:
to purchase https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781984848697
the book! 21
 Watch this
video to learn
more!
Omar and his younger brother, Hassan, have
spent most of their lives in Dadaab, a refugee
camp in Kenya. Life is hard there: never
enough food, achingly dull, and without
access to the medical care Omar knows his
nonverbal brother needs. So when Omar has
the opportunity to go to school, he knows it
might be a chance to change their future . . .
but it would also mean leaving his brother,
the only family member he has left, every
day.

Heartbreak, hope, and gentle humor exist

10) When the Stars are together in this graphic novel about a
childhood spent waiting, and a young man
who is able to create a sense of family and

Scattered by Victoria
home in the most difficult of settings. It's an
intimate, important, unforgettable look at
the day-to-day life of a refugee, as told to
New York Times Bestselling author/artist

Jamieson & Omar Victoria Jamieson by Omar Mohamed, the

Somali man who lived the story.

Mohamed
Excerpt from:
https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781984848697

Click the title

to purchase
the book! 22
The Middle
East 6-8
Fiction
23
 Watch this
video to learn
more!
Life is quiet and ordinary in Amal’s Pakistani
village, but she had no complaints, and
besides, she’s busy pursuing her dream of
becoming a teacher one day. Her dreams are
temporarily dashed when–as the eldest
daughter–she must stay home from school
to take care of her siblings. Amal is upset, but
she doesn’t lose hope and finds ways to
continue learning. Then the unimaginable
happens–after an accidental run-in with the
son of her village’s corrupt landlord, Amal
must work as his family’s servant to pay off
her own family’s debt.

Life at the opulent Khan estate is full of

heartbreak and struggle for Amal–especially
when she inadvertently makes an enemy of
a girl named Nabila. Most troubling, though,
is Amal’s growing awareness of the Khans’
nefarious dealings. When it becomes clear

11) Amal Unbound by

just how far they will go to protect their
interests, Amal realizes she will have to find a
way to work with others if they are ever to
exact change in a cruel status quo, and if

Aisha Saeed Amal is ever to achieve her dreams.

Excerpt from: https://aishasaeed.com/amalunbound/

Click the title

to purchase
the book! 24
 Watch this
video to learn
more!
Darius Kellner speaks better Klingon than
Farsi, and he knows more about Hobbit
social cues than Persian ones. He's a
Fractional Persian—half, his mom's
side—and his first-ever trip to Iran is about to
change his life.

Darius has never really fit in at home in

Portland, and he just knows things are going
to be the same in Iran. His clinical depression
doesn't exactly help matters, and trying to
explain his medication to his grandparents
only makes things harder. Then Darius meets
Sohrab, the boy next door, and everything
changes. Sohrab introduces Darius to all of
his favorite things—mint syrup and the
soccer field and a secret rooftop overlooking

12) Darius the Great is the city's skyline. He gets Darius an Iranian
National Football Team jersey that makes
him feel like a True Persian for the first time.

Not Okay by Adib

And he understands that sometimes, friends
don't have to talk. Sohrab calls him
Darioush--the original Persian version of his
name—and Darius has never felt more like

Khorram himself than he does now that he's Darioush

to Sohrab.
Excerpt from: https://adibkhorram.com/darius
Click the title
to purchase
the book! 25
Asia 6-8
Fiction
26
 Watch this
video to learn
more!
Mia Tang has a lot of secrets.

#1
She lives in a motel, not a big house. Every
day, while her immigrant parents clean the
rooms, ten-year-old Mia manages the front
desk of the Calivista Motel and tends to its
guests.

#2
Her parents hide immigrants. And if the
mean motel owner, Mr. Yao, finds out they've
been letting them stay in the empty rooms
for free, the Tangs will be doomed.

#3
She wants to be a writer. But how can she
when her mom thinks she should stick to
math because English is not her first
language?

13) Front Desk by Kelly It will take all of Mia's courage, kindness, and
hard work to get through this year. Will she
be able to hold on to her job, help the

Yang immigrants and guests, escape Mr. Yao, and

go for her dreams?
Excerpt from:
Click the title
https://frontdeskthebook.com/books/front-desk/
to purchase
the book! 27
 Watch this
video to learn
more!

For all the ten years of her life, Hà has

only known Saigon: the thrills of its
markets, the joy of its traditions, the
warmth of her friends close by, and the
beauty of her very own papaya tree. But
now the Vietnam War has reached her
home. Ha and her family are forced to
flee as Saigon falls, and they board a
ship headed toward hope. This is the
moving story of one girl's year of change,
dreams, grief, and healing as she

14) Inside Out and journeys from one country to another,

one life to the next.

Back Again by
Excerpt from:
https://www.thanhhalai.com/inside-out-and-back-again

Thanhhà Lai
Click the title
to purchase
the book! 28
 Seventeen-year-old Maya Aziz is torn
between worlds. There’s the proper one
Follow this link her parents expect for their good Indian
the the author’s
daughter: attending a college close to
website to learn
more! their suburban Chicago home and being
paired off with an older Muslim boy her
mom deems “suitable.” And then there is
the world of her dreams: going to film
school and living in New York City—and
pursuing a boy she’s known from afar
since grade school.

But in the aftermath of a horrific crime

15) Love, Hate , & Other

perpetrated hundreds of miles away, her
life is turned upside down. The
community she’s known since birth

Filters by Samira
becomes unrecognizable; neighbors and
classmates are consumed with fear,
bigotry, and hatred. Ultimately, Maya
must find the strength within to

Ahmed determine where she truly belongs.

Excerpt from:
https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781616958473
Click the title
to purchase
the book! 29
 Watch this
video to learn
more!
When he finds out that his cousin Jun
has been killed as part
of Philippine president Duterte’s
campaign of extrajudicial
killings, seventeen-year-old Jay Reguero
is devastated.

However, neither his own family nor Jun’s

will talk about
his cousin’s death or answer Jay’s
questions. But when Jay
gets a mysterious message from
someone that his cousin was
innocent, Jay decides to travel to the
Philippines to find out

14) Patron Saints of what happened. Patron Saints of

Nothing will appeal to students as the
novel inspires them to consider questions

Nothing by Randy around family, loyalty, identity, truth, and

ultimately, that our responsibility is to
ourselves and to each other.

Ribay Excerpt from:

https://storage.googleapis.com/classroom-portal-product
ion/uploads/2019/10/69321f13-patrons-saints-of-nothing-g
uide-disrupt-texts.pdf
Click the title
to purchase
the book! 30
North America
& Caribbean
9-12 Fiction
31
 On the corner of American Street and
Joy Road, Fabiola Toussaint thought
Follow this link
the the author’s
she would finally find une belle
website to learn vie—the good life. But after leaving
more! Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Fabiola’s mother
is detained by U.S. immigration,
leaving Fabiola to navigate her loud,
American cousins—Chantal, Donna
and Princess—the grittiness of
Detroit’s west side, a new school, and
a surprising romance, all on her own.
Just as she finds her footing in this
strange new world, a dangerous
proposition presents itself, and

1) American Street by Fabiola must learn that freedom

comes at a cost. Trapped at the
crossroads of an impossible choice,
Ibi Zoboi (Haitian) will she pay the price for the
American dream?

Excerpt from: http://ibizoboi.net/

Click the title
to purchase
the book! 32
 Watch this
video to learn
more!

Enrique’s Journey recounts the

unforgettable quest of a Honduran boy
looking for his mother, eleven years after
she is forced to leave her starving family
to find work in the United States. Braving
unimaginable peril, often clinging to the
sides and tops of freight trains, Enrique
travels through hostile worlds full of
thugs, bandits, and corrupt cops. But he
pushes forward, relying on his wit,
courage, hope, and the kindness of
strangers. As Isabel Allende writes: “This
is a twenty-first-century Odyssey. If you

2) Enrique’s Journey by
are going to read only one nonfiction
book this year, it has to be this one.” Now
updated with a new Epilogue and

Sonia Nazario
Afterword, photos of Enrique and his
family, an author interview and more,
this is a classic of contemporary America.

(Honduran)
Excerpt from: http://enriquesjourney.com/

Click the title

to purchase
the book! 33
 Norris Kaplan is clever, cynical, and quite possibly
too smart for his own good. A Black French
Canadian, he knows from watching American
sitcoms that those three things don’t bode well
when you are moving to Austin, Texas.
Watch this
Plunked into a new high school and sweating a
video to learn
ridiculous amount from the oppressive Texas heat,
more!
Norris finds himself cataloging everyone he meets:
the Cheerleaders, the Jocks, the Loners, and even
the Manic Pixie Dream Girl. Making a ton of
friends has never been a priority for him, and this
way he can at least amuse himself until it’s time
to go back to Canada, where he belongs.

Yet against all odds, those labels soon become

actual people to Norris…like loner Liam, who

3) The Field Guide to

makes it his mission to befriend Norris, or Madison
the beta cheerleader, who is so nice that it has to
be a trap. Not to mention Aarti the Manic Pixie
Dream Girl, who might, in fact, be a real love

the North American interest in the making.

But the night of the prom, Norris screws

everything up royally. As he tries to pick up the

Teenager by Ben pieces, he realizes it might be time to stop hiding

behind his snarky opinions and start living his
life—along with the people who have found their
way into his heart.

Philippe (Canadian) Excerpt from: https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781616958473

Click the title

to purchase
the book! 34
 Perfect Mexican daughters do not go
away to college. And they do not move
out of their parents’ house after high
school graduation. Perfect Mexican
daughters never abandon their family.

Follow this link But Julia is not your perfect Mexican

the the author’s daughter. That was Olga’s role.
website to learn
more!
Then a tragic accident on the busiest
street in Chicago leaves Olga dead and
Julia left behind to reassemble the
shattered pieces of her family. And no
one seems to acknowledge that Julia is
broken, too. Instead, her mother seems to
channel her grief into pointing out every
possible way Julia has failed.

4) I Am Not Your Perfect But it’s not long before Julia discovers
that Olga might not have been as

Mexican Daughter by Erica

perfect as everyone thought. With the
help of her best friend, Lorena, and her
first love (first everything), Connor, Julia is

Sánchez (Mexican) determined to find out. Was Olga really

what she seemed? Or was there more to
her sister’s story? And either way, how
can Julia even attempt to live up to a
Click the title seemingly impossible ideal?
to purchase
the book! Excerpt from: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/ 35
 Watch this
video to learn
more!

Seventeen-year-old Maya Aziz is torn

between worlds. There’s the proper one
her parents expect for their good Indian
daughter: attending a college close to
their suburban Chicago home and being
paired off with an older Muslim boy her
mom deems “suitable.” And then there is
the world of her dreams: going to film
school and living in New York City—and
pursuing a boy she’s known from afar
since grade school.

But in the aftermath of a horrific crime

5)The Poet X by
perpetrated hundreds of miles away, her
life is turned upside down. The
community she’s known since birth

Elizabeth Acevedo
becomes unrecognizable; neighbors and
classmates are consumed with fear,
bigotry, and hatred. Ultimately, Maya
must find the strength within to

(Dominican) determine where she truly belongs.

Excerpt from:
https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781616958473
Click the title
to purchase
the book! 36
 What happens when you fall in love with
someone everyone seems determined to
fear?

Ninety seconds can change a life — not

Follow this link
just daily routine, but who you are as a
the the author’s
website to learn person. Gretchen Asher knows this,
more! 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

6) The Radius of Us by
Flores knows this, because months after
setting off toward the U.S. / Mexico
border in search of safety for his brother,

Maria Marquardt
he finally walked out of detention. But
Phoenix didn’t just trade a perilous barrio
in El Salvador for a leafy suburb in

(Salvadoran)
Atlanta. He became that person — the
one his new neighbors crossed the street
to avoid.
Click the title
to purchase Excerpt from: https://us.macmillan.com/
the book! 37
Africa 9-12
Fiction
38
 In spare free verse laced with
unforgettable images, Viola's strikingly
original voice sings out the story of
Follow this link her family's journey from war-torn
the the author’s Sudan, to Cairo, and finally to
website to learn
more! Portland, Maine. Here, in the
sometimes too close embrace of the
local Southern Sudanese Community,
she dreams of South Sudan while she
tries to navigate the strange world of
America—a world where a girl can
wear a short skirt, get a tattoo, or
even date a boy; a world that puts her
into sharp conflict with her traditional
mother who, like Viola, is struggling to

7) The Good Braider by braid together the strands of a

displaced life. Terry Farish's haunting

Terry Farish (Sudanese)

novel is not only a riveting story of
escape and survival, but the universal
tale of a young immigrant's struggle to
build a life on the cusp of two cultures.
Excerpt from:
Click the title https://www.indiebound.org/book/9780761462675
to purchase
the book! 39
 Darling is only ten years old, and yet she
must navigate a fragile and violent world.
In Zimbabwe, Darling and her friends
steal guavas, try to get the baby out of
Watch this
video to learn
young Chipo's belly, and grasp at
more! memories of Before. Before their homes
were destroyed by paramilitary
policemen, before the school closed,
before the fathers left for dangerous jobs
abroad.

But Darling has a chance to escape: she

8) We Need New
has an aunt in America. She travels to
this new land in search of America's
famous abundance only to find that her

Names by NoViolet options as an immigrant are perilously

few. NoViolet Bulawayo's debut calls to
mind the great storytellers of

Bulawayo displacement and arrival who have come

before her -- from Junot Diaz to Zadie

(Zimbabwean)
Smith to J.M. Coetzee -- while she tells a
vivid, raw story all her own.
Excerpt from: https://www.indiebound.org/book/9780316230841

Click the title

to purchase
the book! 40
The Middle
East 9-12
Fiction
41
 It’s 2002, a year after 9/11. It’s an extremely
turbulent time politically, but especially so for
someone like Shirin, a sixteen-year-old Muslim
girl who’s tired of being stereotyped.
Follow this link
the the author’s
Shirin is never surprised by how horrible
website to learn people can be. She’s tired of the rude stares,
more! the degrading comments—even the physical
violence—she endures as a result of her race,
her religion, and the hijab she wears every
day. So she’s built up protective walls and
refuses to let anyone close enough to hurt her.
Instead, she drowns her frustrations in music
and spends her afternoons break-dancing with
her brother.

9) A Very Large
But then she meets Ocean James. He’s the
first person in forever who really seems to want
to get to know Shirin. It terrifies her—they

Expanse of Sea by
seem to come from two irreconcilable
worlds—and Shirin has had her guard up for
so long that she’s not sure she’ll ever be able

Tahereh Mafi (Irani) to let it down.

Click the title Excerpt from: https://www.indiebound.org/book/9780062866578

to purchase
the book! 42
 In a country teetering on the brink
of civil war, two young people
meet—sensual, fiercely
Watch this independent Nadia and gentle,
video to learn
more!
restrained Saeed. They embark on
a furtive love affair, and are soon
cloistered in a premature intimacy
by the unrest roiling their city. When
it explodes, turning familiar streets
into a patchwork of checkpoints
and bomb blasts, they begin to
hear whispers about doors—doors
that can whisk people far away, if

10) Exit West by Mohsin perilously and for a price. As the

violence escalates, Nadia and

Hamid (Pakistani
Saeed decide that they no longer
have a choice. Leaving their
homeland and their old lives
influenced) behind, they find a door and step
through. . . .
Click the title Excerpt from: https://www.indiebound.org/book/9780735212206
to purchase
the book! 43
Asia 9-12
Fiction
44
 Leigh Chen Sanders is absolutely certain
about one thing: When her mother died
by suicide, she turned into a bird.
Follow this link
the the author’s
Leigh, who is half Asian and half white,
website to learn travels to Taiwan to meet her maternal
more! grandparents for the first time. There, she
is determined to find her mother, the bird.
In her search, she winds up chasing after
ghosts, uncovering family secrets, and
forging a new relationship with her
grandparents. And as she grieves, she
must try to reconcile the fact that on the
same day she kissed her best friend and
longtime secret crush, Axel, her mother

11) The Astonishing was taking her own life.

Alternating between real and magic, past

Color of After by Emily and present, friendship and romance,

hope and despair, The Astonishing Color

X.R. Pan (Taiwanese)

of After is a stunning and heartbreaking
novel about finding oneself through
family history, art, grief, and love.
Click the title Excerpt from: https://www.indiebound.org/book/9780316464017
to purchase
the book! 45
 A fiery and romantic adventure, perfect for fans of
Grace Lin, Kristen Cashore, or Lisa See!
Jade Moon is a Fire Horse -- the worst sign in the
Chinese zodiac for girls, said to make them
Follow this link stubborn, willful, and far too imaginative. But
the the author’s
website to learn while her family despairs of marrying her off, she
more! has a passionate heart and powerful dreams,
and wants only to find a way to make them come
true.Then a young man named Sterling Promise
offers Jade Moon and her father a chance to go
to America. While Sterling Promise's smooth
manners couldn't be more different from her
impulsive nature, Jade Moon falls in love with
him on the long voyage. But America in 1923
doesn't want many Chinese immigrants, and

12) The Fire Horse Girl

when they are detained at Angel Island, the "Ellis
Island of the West," she discovers a betrayal that
destroys all her dreams. To get into America,

by Kay Honeyman
much less survive there, Jade Moon will have to
use all her stubbornness and will to break a new
path... one so brave and dangerous, only a Fire

(Chinese)
Horse girl could imagine it.

Excerpt from: https://www.indiebound.org/book/9780545403115

Click the title
to purchase
the book! 46
 This acclaimed novel reveals the life of a
Vietnamese family in America through
the knowing eyes of a child finding her
place and voice in a new country.
Watch this
video to learn
more! In 1978 six refugees—a girl, her father,
and four “uncles”—are pulled from the
sea to begin a new life in San Diego. In
the child’s imagination, the world is
transmuted into an unearthly realm: she
sees everything intensely, hears the
distress calls of inanimate objects, and
waits for her mother to join her. But life
loses none of its strangeness when the
family is reunited. As the girl grows, her
matter-of-fact innocence eddies

13) The Gangster We Are increasingly around opaque and ghostly

traumas: the cataclysm that engulfed her

All Looking For by Le Thi

homeland, the memory of a brother who
drowned and, most inescapable, her
father’s hopeless rage.

Diem Thuy (Vietnamese) Excerpt from: https://www.indiebound.org/book/9780375700026

Click the title

to purchase
the book! 47
 They’re called parachutes: teenagers dropped off to
live in private homes and study in the United States
while their wealthy parents remain in Asia. Claire
Wang never thought she’d be one of them, until her
Watch this parents pluck her from her privileged life in Shanghai
video to learn and enroll her at a high school in California.
more!
Suddenly she finds herself living in a stranger’s house,
with no one to tell her what to do for the first time in
her life. She soon embraces her newfound freedom,
especially when the hottest and most eligible
parachute, Jay, asks her out.

Dani De La Cruz, Claire’s new host sister, couldn’t be

less thrilled that her mom rented out a room to Claire.
An academic and debate team star, Dani is
determined to earn her way into Yale, even if it means
competing with privileged kids who are buying their
way to the top. But Dani’s game plan veers
unexpectedly off course when her debate coach starts
working with her privately.

14) Parachutes by Kelly As they steer their own distinct paths, Dani and Claire
keep crashing into one another, setting a course that
will change their lives forever.

Yang (Chinese) Excerpt from: https://www.indiebound.org/book/9780062941084

Click the title

to purchase
the book! 48
 This elegant young adult novel captures the
immigrant experience for one
Indian-American family with humor and
heart. Told in alternating teen voices across
Watch this
video to
three generations, You Bring the Distant
learn more! Near explores sisterhood, first loves,
friendship, and the inheritance of culture--for
better or worse.

From a grandmother worried that her

children are losing their Indian identity to a
daughter wrapped up in a forbidden biracial
love affair to a granddaughter social-activist
fighting to preserve Bengali tigers,

15) You Bring the award-winning author Mitali Perkins weaves

together the threads of a family growing into

Distant Near by Mitali

an American identity.

Perkins (Indian)
Here is a sweeping story of five women at
once intimately relatable and yet entirely
new.
Click the title
to purchase
the book! Excerpt from: https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781250233868 49
Latin America
and the
Caribbean 6-12
Nonfiction
50
 To learn more, check
out this commentary Rooted in Gloria Anzaldúa’s experience
on the book from the as a Chicana, a lesbian, an activist, and a
Women's Museum of writer, the essays and poems in this
California! volume profoundly challenged, and
continue to challenge, how we think
about identity. Borderlands/La Frontera
remaps our understanding of what a
“border” is, presenting it not as a simple

1) Borderlands/La
divide between here and there, us and
them, but as a psychic, social, and
cultural terrain that we inhabit, and that
inhabits all of us.

Frontera: The New Excerpt from: https://www.auntlute.com/borderlands

Mestiza by Gloria
Anzaldúa
Click the title
to purchase
the book! 51
Africa 6-12
Nonfiction
52
 Watch this I Was Their American Dream is at once a
video to learn coming-of-age story and a reminder of
more!
the thousands of immigrants who come
to America in search for a better life for
themselves and their children. The
daughter of parents with unfulfilled
dreams themselves, Malaka navigated
her childhood chasing her parents'
ideals, learning to code-switch between
her family's Filipino and Egyptian
customs, adapting to white culture to fit
in, crushing on skater boys, and trying to
understand the tension between holding
onto cultural values and trying to be an
all-American kid.

Malaka Gharib's triumphant graphic

2) I Was Their
memoir brings to life her teenage antics
and illuminates earnest questions about
identity and culture, while providing
thoughtful insight into the lives of

American Dream by modern immigrants and the generation

of millennial children they raised.
Malaka's story is a heartfelt tribute to the

Malaka Gharib American immigrants who have invested

their future in the promise of the
American dream.
Click the title
to purchase * Gharib from I Was Their American Excerpt from:
the book! Dream is Filipino and Egyptian* https://www.indiebound.org/book/9780525575115 53
The Middle
East 6-12
Nonfiction
54
 At thirteen, bright-eyed, straight-A student
Sara Saedi uncovered a terrible family secret:
she was breaking the law simply by living in
the United States. Only two years old when
her parents fled Iran, she didn't learn of her
undocumented status until her older sister
wanted to apply for an after-school job, but
Learn more couldn't because she didn't have a Social
with this NPR Security number.
Interview with
Saedi! Fear of deportation kept Sara up at night,
but it didn't keep her from being a teenager.
She desperately wanted a green card, along
with clear skin, her own car, and a boyfriend.

Americanized follows Sara's progress toward

getting her green card, but that's only a
portion of her experiences as an
Iranian-"American" teenager. From

3) Americanized: Rebel
discovering that her parents secretly
divorced to facilitate her mother's green card
application to learning how to tame her
unibrow, Sara pivots gracefully from the

Without a Green Card (a terrifying prospect that she might be kicked

out of the country at any time to the
almost-as-terrifying possibility that she

memoir) by Sara Saedi

might be the only one of her friends without
a date to the prom. This moving, often
hilarious story is for anyone who has ever
shared either fear.
Click the title
to purchase Excerpt from:
the book! https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781524717797 55
Asia 6-12
Nonfiction
56
 Watch this A timely argument for why the United States and
video to learn the West would benefit from accepting more
more! immigrants

There are few subjects in American life that

prompt more discussion and controversy than
immigration. But do we really understand it? In
This Land Is Our Land, the renowned author
Suketu Mehta attacks the issue head-on. Drawing
on his own experience as an Indian-born teenager
growing up in New York City and on years of
reporting around the world, Mehta subjects the
worldwide anti-immigrant backlash to withering
scrutiny. As he explains, the West is being
destroyed not by immigrants but by the fear of
immigrants. Mehta juxtaposes the phony
narratives of populist ideologues with the ordinary
heroism of laborers, nannies, and others, from
Dubai to Queens, and explains why more people
are on the move today than ever before. As civil
strife and climate change reshape large parts of
the planet, it is little surprise that borders have
become so porous. But Mehta also stresses the
destructive legacies of colonialism and global
inequality on large swaths of the world: When

4) This Land is Our

today’s immigrants are asked, “Why are you
here?” they can justly respond, “We are here
because you were there.” And now that they are
here, as Mehta demonstrates, immigrants bring

Land by Suketu Mehta

great benefits, enabling countries and
communities to flourish. Impassioned, rigorous,
and richly stocked with memorable stories and
characters, This Land Is Our Land is a timely and
Click the title necessary intervention, and a literary polemic of
to purchase the highest order.
the book! Excerpt from:http://www.suketumehta.com/books_ 57
 Watch this
video to learn For as long as she can remember, it’s been
more! Robin and her mom against the world.
Growing up as the only child of a single
mother in Seoul, Korea, wasn’t always easy,
but it has bonded them fiercely together.

So when a vacation to visit friends in

Huntsville, Alabama, unexpectedly becomes
a permanent relocation—following her
mother’s announcement that she’s getting
married—Robin is devastated.

Overnight, her life changes. She is dropped

into a new school where she doesn’t
understand the language and struggles to
keep up. She is completely cut off from her
friends in Seoul and has no access to her
beloved comics. At home, she doesn’t fit in

5) Almost American
with her new stepfamily, and worst of all, she
is furious with the one person she is closest
to—her mother.

Girl: An Illustrated Then one day Robin’s mother enrolls her in a

local comic drawing class, which opens the
window to a future Robin could never have

Memoir by Robin Ha
imagined.

Excerpt from:
https://www.indiebound.org/book/9780062685094
Click the title
to purchase
the book! 58
 The Statue of Liberty's welcoming figure is a symbol held
dear to Americans. The famous lines from Emma
Lazarus's poem: "Give me your tired, your poor/Your
huddled masses yearning to breathe free… Send these,
the homeless, the tempest-tost to me," speak of an
unqualified welcome to the land of immigrants. For
For more many, it has been. But not for all. The reality is that U.S.
information, immigration policy, both throughout history and today,
head to the has often been more limiting than encompassing, and
author’s sometimes it has even been ruled by racism, prejudice,
website here! political concerns, and fear.

Immigrants yearning to breathe free have found

themselves denied, as when the St. Louis, a ship filled
with Jewish refugees from Nazi Germany sought refuge
in American ports and was turned away. Immigrants
have found themselves detained, as when Japanese
Americans during World War II were rounded up and
placed in detention centers—regardless of their
patriotism—for security reasons. And immigrants have

6) Denied, Detained, found themselves deported, sometimes for their radical

political views, as did Emma Goldman, who after 30
years in the U.S. was sent back to Russia after she was
branded a dangerous extremist.

Deported: The Dark Side Ann Bausum examines these immigrant stories from
history, the stories of the denied, detained, and deported,
so that we can learn from past mistakes. Shedding light

of American Immigration on the dark side of immigration helps inform one of the
most important policy debates of our time. It helps us
chart a course that will keep the golden lamp of liberty
burning bright

by Ann Bausum Excerpt from:

http://www.annbausum.com/denied-detained-deported.
html#top
Click the title * This novel centers on immigrant
to purchase experiences from Japan, Russia, and
the book! Nazi Germany* 59
 Watch this
video to learn This beautifully illustrated and emotional
more! story is an evocative memoir about the
search for a better future and a longing for
the past. Exploring the anguish of
immigration and the lasting effects that
displacement has on a child and her family,
Bui documents the story of her family’s
daring escape after the fall of South Vietnam
in the 1970s, and the difficulties they faced
building new lives for themselves.

At the heart of Bui’s story is a universal

struggle: While adjusting to life as a
first-time mother, she ultimately discovers
what it means to be a parent—the endless
sacrifices, the unnoticed gestures, and the
depths of unspoken love. Despite how
impossible it seems to take on the

7) The Best We Could

simultaneous roles of both parent and child,
Bui pushes through. With haunting, poetic
writing and breathtaking art, she examines
the strength of family, the importance of

Do: An Illustrated identity, and the meaning of home.

The Best We Could Do brings to life Thi Bui’s

Memoir by Thi Bui

journey of understanding, and provides
inspiration to all of those who search for a
better future while longing for a simpler past.
Click the title Excerpt from:
to purchase https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781419718779
the book! 60
 Watch this
video to learn
more! George Takei has captured hearts and minds
worldwide with his captivating stage
presence and outspoken commitment to
equal rights. But long before he braved new
frontiers in Star Trek, he woke up as a
four-year-old boy to find his own birth
country at war with his father's -- and their
entire family forced from their home into an
uncertain future.

In 1942, at the order of President Franklin D.

Roosevelt, every person of Japanese descent
on the west coast was rounded up and
shipped to one of ten "relocation centers,"
hundreds or thousands of miles from home,
where they would be held for years under
armed guard.

8) They Called Us They Called Us Enemy is Takei's firsthand

account of those years behind barbed wire,
the joys and terrors of growing up under

Enemy by George legalized racism, his mother's hard choices,

his father's faith in democracy, and the way
those experiences planted the seeds for his

Takei
astonishing future.

Excerpt from:
https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781603094504
Click the title
to purchase
the book! 61
 Watch this We Are Here to Stay features nine courageous
video to learn young adults who have lived in the United
more! States with a secret for much of their lives: they
are not U.S. citizens. They came from Colombia,
Mexico, Ghana, Independent Samoa, and
Korea. They came seeking education, fleeing
violence, and escaping poverty. All have
heartbreaking and hopeful stories about
leaving their homeland and starting a new life
in America. And all are weary of living in the
shadows.

We Are Here to Stay is a very different book

than it was intended to be when originally
slated for a 2017 release. It was originally
illustrated with full-color portraits of the
gorgeous participants. Since the last

9) We Are Here to Stay:

presidential election and the attempt to repeal
DACA, my publisher and I felt that it was too
risky for the contributors to be identified by

Voices of
photographs or by name. We stopped the press
and held back the book. But the participants
wanted their stories told. Their stories needed
to be told. With their advice and consent, we

Undocumented Young revised the book by replacing their

photographs with empty frames, and their
names are represented by first initials. It is my

Adults by Susan Kuklin dream that one day we can republish this book
with the names and images in place.

Click the title Excerpt from:

to purchase http://www.susankuklin.net/young-adult-books/we-are-her
the book! e-to-stay-voices-of-undocumented-young-adults/ 62
 The best part of this
resource is it is constantly
evolving!

New books that center

characters with
immigrant experiences
are released often, and we
will add to this source as
we see fit!

If you have additional

book recommendations

Coming Soon: to add to this source:

New books that will be Email:

alpertm@umich.edu
mdoele@umich.edu
released this summer! 63