From Our Library: A Book List for Studying Immigration

Immigration is an incredibly important topic to study, perhaps right now more than ever. The titles included here can be used for learning about the modern immigrant experience in America, the reasons modern immigrants leave their homes, the ways in which we can empathize with modern immigrants, and even the ways in which the United States is responsible for the living conditions immigrants flee. Not meant to be exhaustive, this book list simply includes all of the relevant titles currently found within the library of our community-based education network affiliate, Dirigo Learning. Download the accompanying guide for further detail, including genre, age range, and book style for teach title as well as short descriptions of each text.

Immigrant Experience in America
A Day’s Work, Eve Bunting
A Handful of Stars, Cynthia Lord
Home of the Brave, Katherine Applegate
Save Me a Seat, Sarah Weeks and Gita Varadarajan
Return to Sender, Julia Alvarez
Among Schoolchildren, Tracy Kidder
With These Hands: The Hidden World of Migrant Farm Workers Today, Daniel Rothenburg

Immigrant Experience in America (Past)
Shy Mama’s Halloween, Anne Broyles
Elisabeth, Claire Nivola
Molly’s Pilgrim, Barbara Cohen
Hannah’s Journal, Marissa Moss
Dash, Kirby Larson
Tracks, Diane Lee Wilson
Letters from Rifka, Karen Hesse

Reasons Immigrants Leave Home (Modern)
What the Moon Saw, Laura Resau
Shooting Kabul, NH Senzai
The Red Pencil, Andrea Davis Pinkney
Stormy Seas: Stories of Young Boat Refugees, Mary Beth Leatherdale
Children Growing Up With War, Jenny Matthews

Empathizing With Modern Immigrants
A Somali Alphabet, Nadifo Ayanle
The Arrival, Shaun Tan
Children Just Like Me, Barnabas and Anabel Kindersley
Everybody Bakes Bread, Norah Dooley
If the World Were a Village: A Book About the World’s People, David J. Smith

US Involvement in Foreign Countries Leading to Immigration
A People’s History of American Empire, Howard Zinn (graphic adaptation by Mike Konapacki and Paul Buhle

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Robin Morgan Huntley, Community-Based Education Correspondent

Robin joined Hilltown Families in 2011 as an intern and has remained with the organization ever since, first volunteering as a community-based education correspondent until 2016 and now as a contributing writer with two monthly columns. Robin is a graduate of Hampshire College and Antioch University New England, where she studied place- and community-based education. She lives on the banks of the Sheepscot River in Maine, where she and her husband are working to start a small farm. Robin teaches at Juniper Hill School for Place-Based Education and is the founder of our first affiliate community-based education network, Dirigo Learning.