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Social Studies > sociology > social issues > immigration
Ajeemah and His Son
This very powerful, short chapter book (83 pages) is set first in Africa, then on a slave ship, and then in Jamaica where Ajeemah and his son are taken. It tells the story of a father and son who are captured outside of their village and torn from their
| Author: Berry, James |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Amazing Potato, The
A wonderful example of thematic writing, this book about the potato includes everything you want to know--and then some. The photographs, fact boxes, sketches, annotated bibliography, index, and interestingly written text produce a self-contained integra
| Author: Meltzer, Milton |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies | science
|
America Street: A Multicultural Anthology of Stories
This is a collection of 14 short stories about people with many different cultural heritages and ethnic backgrounds.
| Author: Mazer, Anne (ed.) |
HSE Descriptors:
language arts - reading
|
Angel Island
An historical account of the discrimination against the Asian immigrants in the late 1800s-early 1900s. Angel Island, located near Alcatraz Island, was the Ellis Island of the west coast of the U.S. but was more of a prison than a welcoming center. Drawi
| Author: Russell Freedman |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies | language arts - reading
|
Arrival, The
An amazing and complex immigration story told in a wordless format. Once you start "reading", it's hard to stop - each picture draws you to the next.
| Author: Tan, Shaun |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Arrival, The
An amazing and complex immigration story told in a wordless format. Once you start "reading", it's hard to stop - each picture draws you to the next.
| Author: Tan, Shaun |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Barrio
Photographs present the life of Jose and his family who live in a barrio or Hispanic neighborhood in San Francisco. A glossary contains Spanish words used in the story. One reviewer felt that the glorification/simplification of the issues addressed may m
| Author: Ancona, George |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Black Potatoes
The causes and consequences of the Irish potato famine are examined, using individual portraits and anecdotes. Archival photographs, a map of the counties of Ireland, a bibliography, and a timeline complement the text.
| Author: Bartoletti, Susan |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Block, The
This collection of Langston Hughes poems is complemented by the illustrations of Romare Beardon. An introduction by Bill Cosby precedes the collection, and biographies of the poet and artist conclude it.
| Author: Hughes, Langston |
HSE Descriptors:
language arts - reading
|
Butterfly Seeds, The
When Jake sails with his family for America, his grandfather gives him a gift of special seeds that will evoke memories of his grandfather in his new home.
| Author: Watson, Mary |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Full Steam Ahead: The Race to Build a Transcontinental Railroad
The Pacific Railroad Act of 1862 granted a company in California the right to lay railroad tracks east and another to lay tracks west beginning at the Mississippi River. Payment for the work, in land and money, was based on the number of miles covered. T
| Author: Blumberg, Rhoda |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Ghost Train
Choon-yi is a painter. Her father leaves China for North America to find work. He asks her to join him, but when she arrives, she discovers that he has been killed on the job. As Choon-yi tries to paint the train, a ghostly presence beckons her.
Grab Hands and Run
Based on a true story, this 165-page book tells of twelve-year-old Felipe, his sister, and his mother as they flee El Salvador when his father disappears. The family escapes, hides, and runs until, caught, they are finally placed in a new home in Canada.
| Author: Temple, Frances |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Grandfather's Journey
This book shows through its photographic-like illustrations and through its minimal text the displacement people feel when they immigrate, the longing they have for the old country and old ways, and the confusion that new loyalties bring.
| Author: Say, Allen |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Grandmother and the Runaway Shadow
When she was a young girl, Grandmother immigrated to America from Russia accompanied by her shadow. Together, they made a new home.
| Author: Rosenberg, Liz |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Growing Up in Coal Country
Based on primary documents and oral histories, this book tells the stories of life in the coal mines in eastern Pennsylvania around the turn of the 20th century.
| Author: Bartoletti, Susan |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
How Many Days to America?
The narrator, a child from an unnamed Caribbean island, escapes the soldiers and the island with his family and takes a dangerous boat trip back to the US. At the end they celebrate with a meal and give thanks.
| Author: Bunting, Eve |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Immigrant Kids
In this unique book, noted nonfiction writer Russell Freedman offers a rare glimpse of what it meant to be a young newcomer to America in the early 1900s.
| Author: Freedman, Russell |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
In Nueva York
This collection of short, interlocking stories depicts life in one of New York City's Puerto Rican communities.
| Author: Mohr, Nicholasa |
HSE Descriptors:
language arts - reading
|
In the Promised Land
From Asser Levy in 1654 to Steven Spielberg today, this book provides one-page illustrated biographies of thirteen famous Jews. In addition, the author includes other print and web resources.
| Author: Rappaport, Doreen |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Kids At Work: Lewis Hine and the Crusade Against Child Labor
This book tells the story of Lewis Hine, a teacher and photographer who became so concerned about children working in factories that he became an investigative reporter for the National Child Labor Committee in the early 20th century. The pictures he too
| Author: Freedman, Russell |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Lotus Seed, The
A young girl tells her grandmother's story of carrying a lotus seed with her from Vietnam, losing it, and then regaining it. The author wants to share "how a family's heritage is passed from one generation to the next and how hope, like the lotus seed, ca
| Author: Garland, Sherry |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Matchbox Diary, The
An Italian immigrant grandfather uses objects he's preserved in matchboxes to tell his granddaughter the story of his life. He created this unique diary because he could not read or write.
| Author: Fleischman, Paul |
HSE Descriptors:
language arts - reading | social studies
|
Memory Coat, The
In order to flee persecution as Jews in Russia, Rachel and her cousin Griska emigrate with their extended family to America where they encounter difficulty at Ellis Island. The author provides additional information on immigration from Russia in the endm
| Author: Woodruff, Elvira |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Miss Bridie Chose a Shovel
When offered a choice between a ceramic clock and a shovel as a gift before leaving for America, Bridie chooses the latter and uses it throughout her resourceful life.
My Grandmother's Journey
The narrator tells the story of the grandmother's life and of the many wars and troubles she experienced in Eastern Europe, until she came to the U.S.
| Author: Cech, John |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
My Own True Name
This partially bilingual collection of uniformly thoughtful and accessible poems includes many verse forms.
N.C. Wyeth's Pilgrims
The author researched the first years of the Pilgrims at Plymouth to create a text to accompany murals painted by N.C. Wyeth. The text includes detailed descriptions, end papers from the Mayflower log, an author's note about his research, and a section a
| Author: San Souci, Robert |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies | language arts - reading
|
Our Century--1920-1930
This is a series of short articles about life, events, and people who made news in the decade of the 20s. (Teachers should note that no African-American history is reported.)
| Author: Hill, Prescott |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Peppe the Lamplighter
A young Italian immigrant boy has to find a job lighting the lamps to help support his invalid father and many sisters. His proud father thinks it is inferior work until the night the boy refuses to light the lamps, and his little sister does not return
| Author: Bartone, Elisa |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Pick and Shovel Poet
This moving biography recounts the life of Italian immigrant poet Pascal D'Angelo. The author includes some of D'Angelo's poems as well as archival photos of immigrant life, an extensive bibliography and an index.
| Author: Murphy, Jim |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Picnic in October, A
At the insistence of the immigrant grandparents, a family celebrates coming to America and the October birthday of the Statue of Liberty.
| Author: Bunting, Eve |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Places in Time
This story atlas describes on facing pages activities at a particular place and time in U.S. history, e.g. Fort Laramie during the westward expansion on the Oregon Trail in 1849. Included are community and building diagrams with numbered points of intere
| Author: Leacock, Elspeth & Buckley, Susan |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Shutting Out the Sky
Subtitled "Life in the Tenements of New York, 1880-1924,," the chapters in this book offer information and perspectives on all aspects of immigration and life in NYC. Photographs and text document the experiences of five individuals from Belarus, Italy, L
| Author: Hopkinson, Deborah |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Step Toward Heaven, A
When Young Ju emigrates with her immediate family to America from Korea, she misses her grandparents. As she grows older, she finds a refuge from her father's physical abuse in school achievement. The author mimics the style of narration with the age of
Streets of Gold
This story of a Russian family's life in Russia and then in the U.S. is based on an actual immigrant's journals.
| Author: Wells, Rosemary |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Tea With Milk
May (the author's mother) is learning American ways when her family moves back to Japan. When her parents hire a matchmaker to find her a husband, May moves to Osaka, begins a career, and finds her own happiness.
Tenement: Immigrant Life on the Lower East Side
Lots of photographs and a fairly easy-to-read text tell the story of the tenements that were built to house immigrants during the turn of the century (19th - 20th). Further reading includes books for adults and children as well as related WWW sites.
| Author: Bial, Raymond |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
They Sought A New World
Through Kurelek's art and Margaret Englehart's additional text, this book tells the story of European immigrants to North America. In addition to describing issues like finding work and shelter, aspects of culture -- religion, maintaining cultural tradit
| Author: Kurelek, William |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
This Our Dark Country: The American Settlers of Liberia
This is a history of Liberia which was established on the west coast of Africa in 1822 as a haven for free African Americans. Some U.S. history is also included as background context. End matter includes photos, maps, endnotes, bibliography, and index. Th
| Author: Reef, Catherine |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Tonight, By Sea
A Haitian girl, Paulie, joins with her village to secretly build and launch a boat and escape to Miami. The book is full of dialect and may be too difficult for some readers, but the subject matter and compelling story make it good reading.
| Author: Temple, Frances |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
When Jessie Came Across the Sea
Jesse leaves her village for America where she earns money to bring her grandmother to America in time for her wedding.
| Author: Hest, Amy |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Working Children
The author presents the history of child labor in America in four chapters, written with two easy-to-read paragraphs per page , and illustrated with archival black-and-white photogaphs. What distinguishes this book for use in a classroom is the back matt
| Author: Saller, Carol |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
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