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The Immigrant Experience Through Literature Descriptions of the immigrant experience by those who have lived it.

For Young Adults
	ALMOST A WOMAN Santiago, Esmeralda \| Vintage, © 1998 \| B Santiago Negi moves from Puerto Rico to Brooklyn and falls in love. Reserve This Title
	The CIRCUIT: STORIES FROM THE LIFE OF A MIGRANT CHILD Jiménez, Francisco \| Univ. of New Mexico Press, © 1998 \| FIC J A family's odyssey of impermanence, poverty and hope. Reserve This Title
	The COLORS OF FREEDOM: IMMIGRANT STORIES Bode, Janet \| Franklin Watts, © 1999 \| 305.8009 B Fears, dreams, recipes, photos and more from immigrant teens. Reserve This Title
	The COOK'S FAMILY Yep, Laurence \| Putnam, © 1998 \| FIC Y Robin discovers her Chinese heritage. Reserve This Title
	DESERT FLOWER: THE EXTRAORDINARY JOURNEY OF A DESERT NOMAD Dirie, Waris \| William Morrow, © 1998 \| B Dirie A young girl tries to flee her culture's traditions. Reserve This Title
	LAS CHRISTMAS Santiago, Esmeralda \| Alfred A. Knopf, © 1998 \| 394.2663 C Celebrated Latino authors recount their memories of Christmas. Reserve This Title
	REMIX: CONVERSATIONS WITH IMMIGRANT TEENAGERS Budhos, Marina Tamar \| Henry Holt, © 1999 \| 920.0083 B Finding their way in America. Reserve This Title
	SOMETHING TO DECLARE Alvarez, Julia \| Algonquin, © 1998 \| 814 Alvarez Alvarez learns to write about her heritage. Reserve This Title
	The YEAR OF OUR REVOLUTION Cofer, Judith Ortiz \| Arte Público, © 1998 \| 868 Ortiz Cofer Even in America there is a price to pay for love. Reserve This Title
For Younger Readers
	The AMERICAN WEI Pomeranc, Marion Hess; illustrated by DyAnne DiSalvo-Ryan \| A. Whitman, © 1998 \| J PIC P When Wei Fong loses his first tooth while going to his family's naturalization ceremony, many soon-to-be Americans join in the search. Reserve This Title
	GRANDFATHER'S JOURNEY Say, Allen \| Houghton, © 1993 \| J PIC S The author recounts his grandfather's journey from Japan to America and the feelings of being torn by a love for both countries. Reserve This Title
	I HATE ENGLISH! Levine, Ellen; illustrated by Steve Bjorkman \| Scholastic, © 1989 \| J PIC L Mei Mei, from Hong Kong, encounters a strange new language in New York. Reserve This Title
	The LONG WAY TO A NEW LAND Sandin, Joan \| HarperCollins, © 1981 \| J FIC S Carl Erik journeys with his family from Sweden to America during the famine of 1868 in this I Can Read History book. Reserve This Title
	MARIANTHE'S STORY ONE: PAINTED WORDS. MARIANTHE'S STORY TWO: SPOKEN MEMORIES Aliki \| Greenwillow, © 1998 \| J PIC A Mari starts school in a new land and describes village life in her country before she and her family left in search of a better life. Two stories in one book. Reserve This Title
	An MEI'S STRANGE AND WONDROUS JOURNEY Molnar-Fenton, Stephan; illus. by Vivienne Flesher \| DK Ink, © 1998 \| J PIC M Six-year-old An Mei tells the story of how she was born in China and came to live in America. Reserve This Title
	A VERY IMPORTANT DAY Herold, Maggie Rugg; illustrated by Catherine Stock \| Morrow, © 1995 \| J PIC H Two hundred nineteen people from thirty-two different countries make their way to downtown New York in a snowstorm to be sworn in as United States citizens. Reserve This Title
	WATCH THE STARS COME OUT Levinson, Riki \| Dutton, © 1985 \| J PIC L Grandma tells about her mama's journey to America by boat, years ago. Reserve This Title
	WHEN JESSIE CAME ACROSS THE SEA Hest, Amy; illustrated by P. J. Lynch \| Candlewick, © 1997 \| J PIC H A thirteen-year-old Jewish orphan reluctantly leaves her grandmother and immigrates to New York City where she works for three years sewing lace and earning money to bring her Grandmother to the United States. Reserve This Title
For Older Readers
	BEYOND THE WESTERN SEA Avi \| Orchard, © 1996 \| J FIC A The fates of the son of an English lord and a poor Irish brother and sister become intertwined as they make their way to Liverpool for the voyage to America. Reserve This Title
	COMING TO AMERICA: THE STORY OF IMMIGRATION Maestro, Betsy \| Scholastic, © 1996 \| J 304.87 M The history of immigration to the United States from its first settlers to contemporary times. Reserve This Title
	IF YOUR NAME WAS CHANGED AT ELLIS ISLAND Levine, Ellen \| Scholastic, © 1993 \| J 325.1 L Question and answers about the great migration of immigrants to New York's Ellis Island from the 1880's to 1914. Reserve This Title
	IN THE YEAR OF THE BOAR AND JACKIE ROBINSON Lord, Bette Bao \| HarperCollins, © 1984 \| J FIC L Shirley Temple Wong embraces American life in 1947 Brooklyn. Reserve This Title
	JOURNEY OF THE SPARROWS Buss, Fran Leeper \| Lodestar, © 1991 \| J FIC B A young girl endures a harrowing flight from El Salvador to Chicago. Reserve This Title
	LETTERS FROM RIFKA Hesse, Karen \| Holt, © 1992 \| J FIC H Writing in the margins of her treasured book of poetry, Rifka describes her diffiicult journey from Russia to America in 1918. Reserve This Title
Novels, Short Stories, Poetry
	The ANGEL MAX Glassgold, Peter \| Harcourt Brace, © 1998 \| FIC G Revolutionary politics of 1880's New York centers around three generations of a Jewish immigrant family. Reserve This Title
	A BAR IN BROOKLYN: NOVELLAS AND SHORT STORIES 1970-1978 Codrecu, Andrei \| Black Sparrow, © 1999 \| FIC C A collection of immigrant stories by an author who emigrated from Romania. Reserve This Title
	BETTER THAN GOLD: AN IMMIGRANT FAMILY'S FIRST YEARS IN BROOKLYN Silver, Fannie \| Jewish Heritage, © 1997 \| FIC S Short stories recount the family life of a Jewish immigrant girl in the early 1920's. Reserve This Title
	BEYOND THE LIMBO SILENCE Nuñez, Elizabeth \| Seal Press, © 1998 \| FIC N In 1963 a young woman from Trinidad attends a Wisconsin college. Reserve This Title
	The BIG BANANA Quesada, Roberto \| Arte Público, © 1999 \| FIC Q A Honduran actor tries to survive in the "Big Banana"; New York City. Reserve This Title
	BREAD GIVERS Yezierska, Anzia \| Braziller, © 1999 (c1925) \| FIC Y A young woman struggles to free herself from the traditional female role in an Orthodox Jewish family. Reserve This Title
	CHINHOMINEY'S SECRET Kim, Nancy \| Bridge Works, © 1999 \| FIC K A portrait of the intergenerational and cultural conflicts within a Korean family. Reserve This Title
	COMFORT WOMAN Keller, Nora Okja \| Viking, © 1997 \| FIC K This novel explores the universal conflict between mother and daughter through the voices of a young Korean-American girl and her spiritual mother. Reserve This Title
	EMPRESS OF THE SPLENDID SEASON Hijuelos, Oscar \| HarperFlamingo, © 1999 \| FIC H Disowned by her Cuban family, Lydia works as a seamstress in New York. Reserve This Title
	FASTING, FEASTING Desai, Anita \| Mariner, © 1999 \| FIC D East and West clash in this arresting novel set in India and the US. Reserve This Title
	The GANGSTER OF LOVE Hagedorn, Jessica \| Houghton Mifflin, © 1996 \| FIC H The Philippine Rivera family comes to the United States to make a new life. Reserve This Title
	GARDEN OF EXILE: POEMS Rodriguez, Aleida \| Sarabande, © 1999 \| 811 Rodriguez A first collection of poems by a Cuban exile, written in English and Spanish. Reserve This Title
	GEOGRAPHIES OF HOME Pérez, Loida Maritza \| Viking, © 1999 \| FIC P In this first novel Iliana, a Dominican immigrant, attends college in New York. Reserve This Title
	A GESTURE LIFE Lee, Chang-rae \| Riverhead Books, © 1999 \| FIC L A Japanese man of Korean birth strives to become part of the melting pot. Reserve This Title
	GROWING UP ETHNIC IN AMERICA: CONTEMPORARY FICTION ABOUT LEARNING TO BE AMERICAN Gillan, Jennifer & Maria M., eds. \| Penguin, © 1999 \| 813.54 G An anthology of stories by noted authors about the immigrant experience. Reserve This Title
	HOUSE OF SAND AND FOG Dubus, Andre, III \| W.W. Norton, © 1999 \| FIC D A former colonel in the Iranian army contends with life in Miami. Reserve This Title
	The HOUSEGUEST Rossi, Agnes \| Dutton, © 2000 \| FIC R An Irish immigrant settles in Paterson, NJ and falls in love with his host's wife. Reserve This Title
	The IMMIGRANT TRAIN AND OTHER STORIES Petesch, Natalie L. M. \| Swallow, © 1996 \| FIC P Short stories based on the author's family who were poor Polish immigrants. Reserve This Title
	INTERPRETER OF MALADIES Lahiri, Jhumpa \| Houghton Mifflin, © 1999 \| FIC L Winner of the 1999 Pulitzer Prize for fiction, this accomplished collection of short stories explores the lives of Indian immigrants. Reserve This Title
	The IRISH STORIES OF SARAH ORNE JEWETT Jewett, Sarah Orne \| Southern Illinois Univ., © 1996 \| FIC J Eight literary portraits of Irish immigrants who settled in the 19th Century. Reserve This Title
	JAGUAR: A STORY OF AFRICANS IN AMERICA Stoller, Paul \| Univ. of Chicago, © 1999 \| FIC S A Nigerian street vendor in Harlem seeks residency in the U.S.A. Reserve This Title
	MEMORIES OF MY GHOST BROTHER Fenkl, Heinz Insu \| Dutton, © 1997 \| FIC F A young Amerasian comes to terms with his own identity and memories of a lost half-brother. Reserve This Title
	MONKEY BRIDGE Cao, Lan \| Viking, © 1997 \| FIC C An insightful story by a Vietnamese American about the war experience. Reserve This Title
	The NEW SWEET STYLE Aksyonov, Vassily \| Random House, © 1999 \| FIC A Picaresque novel about a Russian artist who tries his luck in the United States. Reserve This Title
	ODYSSEY TO THE NORTH Bencastro, Mario \| Arte Público, © 1998 \| FIC B Calixto escapes torture in El Salvador. Reserve This Title
	The PROMISED LAND Veltfort, Ruhama \| Milkweed Editions, © 1998 \| FIC V Spiritual tale of Orthodox Jewish immigrant pioneers. Reserve This Title
	SARI OF THE GODS Sharat Chandra, G. S. \| Coffee House, © 1998 \| FIC S Nineteen short stories dealing with the experiences of Indian immigrants. Reserve This Title
	TROPICAL TOWN AND OTHER POEMS Selva, Salomón de la \| Arte Público, © 1999 \| 811 Selva This collection deals with the Nicaraguan poet's experiences in World War I and as an exile from his homeland. Reserve This Title
	WHO'S IRISH? STORIES Jen, Gish \| Knopf, © 1999 \| FIC J In eight lively stories, the author chronicles Chinese and other immigrant groups as they exuberantly take on America. Reserve This Title
Biography and Memoir
	The ALPHABET IN MY HANDS: A WRITING LIFE Agosín, Marjorie \| Rutgers Univ., © 2000 \| B Agosín The granddaughter of Jewish immigrants, who fled the Nazis, describes her journey from Chile to Georgia. Reserve This Title
	BAREFOOT HEART: STORIES OF A MIGRANT CHILD Hart, Elva Treviño \| Bilingual, © 1999 \| B Hart The daughter of Mexican immigrants recounts her family's struggle to stay together. Reserve This Title
	BECOMING AMERICAN: PERSONAL ESSAYS BY FIRST GENERATION IMMIGRANT WOMEN Danquah, Meri N., ed. \| Hyperion, © 2000 \| 305.4896 B Twenty-three women from a variety of countries describe their experiences Reserve This Title
	A DREAM FOR GILBERTO: AN IMMIGRANT FAMILY'S STRUGGLE TO BECOME AMERICAN Young, Billie \| J-Press, © 1999 \| B Alzate Y A Colombian street kid manages to bring his family to the US. Reserve This Title
	FROM A HIGH PLACE: A LIFE OF ARSHILE GORKY Spender, Matthew \| Knopf, © 1999 \| B Gorky S The tragic life of an Armenian immigrant who won fame as an expressionistic painter. Reserve This Title
	HEADING SOUTH, LOOKING NORTH Dorfman, Ariel \| Farrar, Straus & Giroux, © 1998 \| B Dorfman A Chilean expatriate's quest for identity. Reserve This Title
	I LOVE GOOTIE: MY GRANDMOTHER'S STORY Apple, Max \| Warner Books, © 1998 \| B Apple Recollections of the times the author spent with his Lithuanian grandmother. Reserve This Title
	IN JEWISH TEXAS: A FAMILY MEMOIR Ely, Stanley E. \| Texas Christian Univ., © 1998 \| B Ely The author's family and friends immigrate to Galveston, Texas. Reserve This Title
	The JEW STORE: A FAMILY MEMOIR Suberman, Stella \| Algonquin, © 1998 \| B Suberman A Russian immigrant's search for a place to settle his family and find his fortune. Reserve This Title
	JOSÉ LIMÓN: AN UNFINISHED MEMOIR Limón, José \| Univ. Pr. of New England, © 1999 \| B Limón Born in Culiacán, México, the dancer is reborn in Doris Humphrey's studio. Reserve This Title
	KINSHIP: A FAMILY'S JOURNEY IN AFRICA AND AMERICA Wamba, Phillipe E. \| Dutton, © 1999 \| 929.2097 W A combination of history and memoir by an African American journalist. Reserve This Title
	LETTERS OF TRANSIT: REFLECTIONS ON EXILE, IDENTITY, LANGUAGE AND LOSS Aciman, Andre, ed. \| New Press, © 1999 \| 304.8092 L Essays by five outstanding authors on the experience of exile. Reserve This Title
	MIRIAM'S KITCHEN: A MEMOIR Ehrlich, Elizabeth \| Viking, © 1997 \| B Ehrlich The author connects with the past by recounting memories and preserving recipes. Reserve This Title
	OUT OF PLACE: A MEMOIR Said, Edward \| Random, © 1999 \| B Said The author, now an American citizen, reflects on his Palestinian childhood. Reserve This Title
	PAPER DAUGHTER: A MEMOIR Mar, M. Elaine \| HarperCollins, © 1999 \| B Mar A young Chinese woman struggles to shape her identity. Reserve This Title
	PLACES LEFT UNFINISHED AT THE TIME OF CREATION Santos, John Phillip \| Viking, © 1999 \| B Santos A Mexican American journalist explores his family's history. Reserve This Title
	POLITE LIES: ON BEING A WOMAN CAUGHT BETWEEN CULTURES Mori, Kyoko \| Henry Holt, © 1998 \| B Mori In beautifully written essays, Mori examines the ways in which truth is circumvented in America and in her native Japan. Reserve This Title
	REMEMBERING AHANAGRAN: STORYTELLING IN A FAMILY'S PAST White, Richard \| Hill & Wang, © 1998 \| B White Oral recollections of the author's Irish mother, who immigrated to Chicago in 1935. Reserve This Title
	SCATTERING THE ASHES Boza, Maria del Carmen \| Bilingual, © 1998 \| B Boza Boza describes her unhappy childhood within a Cuban exile family in Miami. Reserve This Title
	A SONG FOR MARY: AN IRISH-AMERICAN MEMORY Smith, Dennis \| Warner Books, © 1999 \| B Smith Reminiscence of an Irish boyhood on Manhattan's East Side soon after World War II. Reserve This Title
	'TIS. A MEMOIR McCourt, Frank \| Scribner, © 1999 \| B McCourt A poverty-stricken, uneducated Irish immigrant becomes a New York schoolteacher. Sequel to Angela's Ashes. Reserve This Title
Non-Fiction
	BEYOND THE NARROW GATE: THE JOURNEY OF FOUR CHINESE WOMEN FROM THE MIDDLE KINGDOM TO MIDDLE AMERICA Chang, Leslie \| Dutton, © 1999 \| 305.4889 C Four immigrant Chinese women face hardships as they journey from East to West. Reserve This Title
	I BEGIN MY LIFE ALL OVER: THE HMONG AND THE AMERICAN IMMIGRANT EXPERIENCE Faderman, Lillian with Ghia Xiong \| Beacon, © 1998 \| 305.8959 F A deeply moving oral history of the Hmongs' odyssey to the U.S.A. Reserve This Title
	MORTAR IN MY BLOOD: AN ITALIAN ODYSSEY Puzio, Frank Mauro \| Dorrance, © 1996 \| 974.71 P Family history pervaded by the importance of traditional values and heritage. Reserve This Title
	MY FAMILY: THE JEWISH IMMIGRANTS Beim, Norman \| NewConcept, © 1997 \| 812 Beim Six powerful plays dealing with the immigrant experience. Reserve This Title
	NEW STRANGERS IN PARADISE: THE IMMIGRANT EXPERIENCE AND CONTEMPORARY AMERICAN FICTION Muller, Gilbert H. \| Univ. Pr. of Kentucky, © 1999 \| 813.009 M A guide to outstanding immigrant literature. Reserve This Title
	TESSIE AND PEARLIE: A GRANDDAUGHTER'S STORY Horowitz, Joy \| Scribner, © 1996 \| 920.0092H A loving tribute to the author's 93 year old Jewish grandmothers. Reserve This Title
	TOUGH JEWS: FATHERS, SONS AND GANGSTER DREAMS IN JEWISH AMERICA Cohen, Rich \| Simon & Schuster, © 1998 \| 364.3492 C A unique time in the history of American Jewish immigration in New York. Reserve This Title
	UNFINISHED PEOPLE: EASTERN EUROPEAN JEWS ENCOUNTER AMERICA Gay, Ruth \| W W Norton, © 1996 \| 305.8924 G Essays and memoirs portray Jewish customs and traditions. Reserve This Title
	ZULU: AN IRISH JOURNEY Mathieu, Joan \| Syracuse Univ., © 1998 \| 304.8094 M A social history of Irish immigrants based on the author's family story. Reserve This Title
Back to the Branch Libraries home page The extraordinary ethnic diversity of the United States is due to the vast numbers of immigrants who have settled here. Many Americans today grew up listening to stories from their parents or grandparents about what it was like to come to a new country and struggle to build a life for themselves and their families. In relocating from one country to another, newcomers have had to find a way to make a living, in addition to adjusting to an unfamiliar culture and often a new language. Through expressive novels, short stories, poetry, plays, biographies and memoirs that have been recently published, the books on this list describe the immigrant experience by those who have lived it. We have included titles for all age levels, and from authors who came from different countries of origin. Although Puerto Rico is a part of the United States and Puerto Ricans are U.S. citizens, the cultural and language barriers many Puerto Ricans face when they migrate from their Caribbean Island to the mainland are so similar to an This booklist was prepared by the following staff members of The New York Public Library: Ismael Alicea, Yolanda Bonitch, Susan Gitman, Harriet Gottfried, Susan Pine, Verónica Reyes, Erika Yánez, Hong Yao.

The Immigrant Experience Through Literature Descriptions of the immigrant experience by those who have lived it.

For Young Adults

For Younger Readers

For Older Readers

Novels, Short Stories, Poetry

Biography and Memoir

Non-Fiction

The Immigrant Experience Through Literature
Descriptions of the immigrant experience by those who have lived it.