Category: Books

40 Picture Books About the Immigrant Experience

11/14/2016

I am a firm believer in the power of education to advance empathy and understanding between people of different ethnicities, religions, and cultural backgrounds. This week, I've assembled a list of children's picture books that tell immigrant stories. Most of these books talk about the immigrant experience through the eyes of a child; they speak to the physical, emotional, and psychological experiences of immigrants. Some of the books address what life was like in their homelands, some focus on the journey itself, and many of these stories focus on the everyday struggles faced by immigrants as they start their new lives in America (or Australia and Canada, in the case of a few of these stories.)

Immigration is a huge part of the collective, but still deeply personal, American-family history. No matter where your ancestors came from and no matter when they came to America, chances are they all experienced the SAME feelings and challenges in their new adopted homeland. Speaking with children about those similarities can help them develop compassion and understanding for present-day immigrant families.

This list is by no means comprehensive, and there are also many wonderful immigrant-story chapter books for more advanced readers. Each title is linked to its WorldCat entry, so hopefully you will be able to find a copy at your local library. I've also found free discussion and teacher guides for some of these books, so I've included links to those as well. Happy reading!

40 Picture Books About the Immigrant Experience

Marianthe's Story: Painted Words and Spoken Memories by Aliki Teacher Guide

Dreaming of America: An Ellis Island Story by Eve Bunting

How Many Days to America: A Thanksgiving Story by Eve Bunting

One Green Apple by Eve Bunting Lesson Plan

The Name Jar by Yangsook Choi Discussion Guide

Good-bye Havana! Hola, New York! by Edie Colon

Carmen Learns English by Judy Cox

Kai's Journey to Gold Mountain by Katrina Saltonstall Currier

This Is Me: A Story of Who We Are and Where We Came From by Jamie Lee Curtis Educator's Guide

The Little Refugee by Ahn Do Teacher's Guide

Lailah's Lunchbox: A Ramadan Story by Reem Faruqi Educator's Guide

The Seeds of Friendship by Michael Foreman

How My Parents Learned to Eat by Ina R. Friedman

The Lotus Seed by Sherry Garland Teacher's Guide

Sofie and the City by Karima Grant

When Jessie Came Across the Sea by Amy Hest Sample Lesson

The Colour of Home by Mary Hoffman

I'm New Here by Bud Howlett

Paper Son: Lee's Journey to America by Helen Foster James and Virginia Shin-Mui Loh

My Two Blankets by Irena Kobald

Waiting for Papá by René Colato Laínez

I Hate English! by Ellen Levine Book Guide and Lesson Plans

Watch the Stars Come Out by Riki Levinson

Coming to America: The Story of Immigration by Betsy Maestro

From Far Away by Robert Munsch Lesson Plan

I'm New Here by Anne Sibley O'Brien YouTube Discussion Author Interview

My Diary From Here to There by Amada Irma Pérez Teacher's Guide Lesson Plan

The Blessing Cup by Patricia Polacco Teacher Guide

Fiona's Lace by Patricia Polacco

My Name is Yoon by Helen Recorvits

Grandfather's Journey by Allen Say

Anna & Solomon by Elaine Snyder

Angel Child, Dragon Child by Michele Maria Surat

Mary's First Thanksgiving: An Inspirational Story of Gratefulness by Kathy-jo Wargin

A Piece of Home by Jeri Watts

My Name is Sangoel by Karen Lynn Williams and Khadra Mohammed Teacher's Guide

The Memory Coat by Elvira Woodruff Lesson Plan Family Program Guide

All the Way to America: The Story of a Big Italian Family and a Little Shovel by Dan Yaccarino

Hannah Is My Name: A Young Immigrant's Story by Belle Yang Lesson Plan

Coolies by Yin Lesson Guide

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Book Review: The Keeping Quilt and The Blessing Cup

10/4/2016

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Over the past 30 years or so, author and illustrator Patricia Polacco has created some amazing and poignant works of children's literature, many of them surrounding historical events and some of them based on her own family history. The Keeping Quilt and The Blessing Cup are two of my favorites, and are based on the lives of her Russian Jewish ancestors.

Book Review: The Keeping Quilt and The Blessing Cup by Patricia Polacco - GrowingLittleLeaves.com

In The Keeping Quilt, we meet a young girl, Anna, whose family has just immigrated to the U.S. from Russia. We hear about the family's struggles in adapting to new life in a big city and learning a new language, but we are also witness to the important roles of community and family in immigrant life. The book follows the journey of a handmade quilt passed along through several generations and how it served family members as a tablecloth, wedding huppah, baby blanket, and even a play tent. This story is a charming example of how an heirloom can come to represent a family's history, people, and experiences. The Keeping Quilt is appropriate for all ages.

The Blessing Cup is a prequel to The Keeping Quilt. It tells the story of Anna's family before they came to America - about what life was like in Russia. This story is more intense than The Keeping Quilt from an emotional standpoint, because it does allude to the terror felt by the family and village people during the Russian pogroms, and about the hardships the family goes through on their journey out of Russia and eventually to America. However, it also demonstrates the kindness, generosity, and sacrifice of strangers. And through all of their ordeals, there is another heirloom that comes to represent the family's journey - a cup from a tea set given to Anna's parents as a wedding gift.

I would recommend The Blessing Cup for ages 7 and up. As mentioned above, the historical events within the story are more complex, and some younger children may not emotionally process it or understand it as well as older children. It is, however, a good story to help you initiate discussion with your children about immigration push-and-pull factors throughout history, particularly with respect to people of the Jewish faith.

I've written before about how important it is to introduce our children to family heirlooms at an early age. Heirlooms are concrete, tangible items that link us to the people in our family who came before us. After reading these books to your children or grandchildren, share some of your family's most cherished heirlooms with them, and better yet, share the stories and memories that accompany those heirlooms.

*This post does NOT contain affiliate links*

©2016 Emily Kowalski Schroeder

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50 Books For Grandparents Day

9/6/2016

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The primary mission of Growing Little Leaves is to help young people learn about their family histories, and a big part of accomplishing that goal is helping families foster open relationships and communication between children and their grandparents and, if they are fortunate enough to know them, their great-grandparents, as well.

This year, Grandparents Day is Sunday, September 11. Below, I've compiled a list of children's storybooks that explore and embrace the grandparent-grandchild relationship. I've also included books in which grandparents serve as children's primary caregivers and books that deal with the tough issues of grandparent illness, dementia, and death. I've linked each book title to its WorldCat or Amazon.com entry, so that you can find a copy at a local library in your area.

50 Books for Grandparents Day from GrowingLittleLeaves.com

General Books About Grandparents

The Berenstain Bears and the Week at Grandma's by Stan & Jan Berenstain

I Loved You Before You Were Born by Anne Bowen

Grandmother and I by Helen E. Buckley

Because Your Grandparents Love You by Andrew Clements

Everything is Different at Nonna's House by Caron Lee Cohen

The Adventures of Camp Nana Papa by Donnie Cranfill

Llama Llama Gram and Grandpa by Anna Dewdney

Abuela by Arthur Dorros

Grandma Hands by Keri Brubaker Ems

Grandfather's Wrinkles by Kathryn England

The Patchwork Quilt by Valerie Flournoy

We're Very Good Friends, My Grandpa and I by P. K. Hallinan

Grandpa Has a Great Big Face by Warren Hanson

Nana's Birthday Party by Amy Hest

Grandmother's Book of Promises by Karen Hill

Grandpa and Me & Grandma and Me by Karen Katz

My Hippie Grandmother by Reeve Lindbergh

Here Comes Grandma! by Janet Lord

Just Grandma and Me & Just Grandpa and Me by Mercer Mayer

Grandmother's Dreamcatcher by Becky Ray McCain

Grandparent Poems compiled by John Micklos Jr.

Gus and Grandpa (Series) by Claudia Mills

Grandpa Loved & Grandma's Scrapbook by Josephine Nobisso

What Grandmas Do Best & What Grandpas Do Best by Laura Numeroff

Making Memories by Janette Oke

The Grandma Book & The Grandpa Book by Todd Parr

My Oh So Fancy Nana by Maggie Pearson

How to Babysit a Grandma & How to Babysit a Grandpa by Jean Reagan

Henry and Mudge and the Great-Grandpas by Cynthia Rylant

My Nana and Me by Irene Smalls

Grandma's Bill by Martin Waddell

Grandpa Lets Me Be Me by Debra Mostow Zakarin

Grandma, It's For You! by Harriet Ziefert

Grandpas are for Finding Worms & Grandmas are for Giving Tickles by Harriet Ziefert

Books With Grandparents as Primary Caregivers

Sometimes It's Grandmas and Grandpas: Not Mommies and Daddies by Gayle Byrne

Robert Lives With His Grandparents by Martha Whitmore Hickman

Grandma's Hands by Dolores Johnson

Let's Talk About Living With A Grandparent by Susan Kent

Books Dealing With Grandparent Sickness, Dementia, and Death

My Grandpa Had a Stroke by Dori Hillestad Butler

Nana Upstairs & Nana Downstairs by Tomie dePaola

Zero Grandparents by Michelle Edwards

When My Grammy Forgets, I Remember: A Child's Perspective on Dementia by Toby Haberkorn

Weeds in Nana's Garden by Kathryn Harrison

Really and Truly by Emilie Rivard

When Your Grandparent Dies: A Child's Guide to Good Grief by Victoria Ryan

Always My Grandpa: A Story For Children About Alzheimer's Disease by Linda Scacco

Striped Shirts and Flowered Pants: A Story About Alzheimer's Disease for Young Children by Barbara Schnurbush

What's Happening to Grandpa? by Maria Shriver

Still My Grandma by Veronique Van den Abeele

"I Remember!" Cried Grandma Pinky by Jan Wahl

Grandparents Day is a wonderful opportunity for kids and parents to show their appreciation to the grandparents and grandparent-like figures in their lives, people who are often the matriarchs and patriarchs of families and who still do so much to help bring up the youngest generation.

Be sure to follow Growing Little Leaves's 'Grandparents Day' Pinterest Board for other online Grandparents Day resources, printables, and craft ideas.

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Helping Kids Understand Memorial Day

5/25/2016

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Last year, I wrote this post about why kids should learn about Memorial Day, and I gave readers some ideas on how to involve kids in commemorating the holiday. We've been talking about it again this week, and we've done a few other activities that have helped my kids understand, ask questions, and discuss why we celebrate Memorial Day.

1.) National Cemetery Diorama
My daughter and I have had a LOT of free time this week, as her school year is over and my part-time job / volunteering commitments are finished for the summer. So, feeling crafty, we made a national cemetery diorama. My daughter enjoyed placing the flags next to each grave (and she can do it over and over again.)

National Cemetery Diorama

We used a 12"x12" Styrofoam square for the base and covered it in grass-print scrapbook paper. along with scrapbook paper, cardstock, round-pointed toothpicks, and a wooden food skewer for the large flag pole.

I created a simple gravestone template (below) to use as a stencil on the white cardstock. You could also print the image directly onto cardstock, but our archaic home printer won't do that. I printed out one big flag and a bunch of tiny ones using this public-domain American flag graphic from Wikipedia. Then, all you need are some scissors, some glue, and some patience!

2.) Read The Wall by Eve Bunting

The Wall by Eve Bunting

Told from the perspective of a young boy, this book takes place at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington D.C. The boy is looking for his grandfather's name on the wall. The boy comes to learn why all these names are on the wall. Then, he and his father do a rubbing of the name and they leave a photo of the boy at the memorial "for Grandpa."

Of course, it is not a happy book, but I think it does a good job of appropriately explaining the ultimate sacrifice given by so many members of our military. Not only that, but it shows how those sacrifices emotionally affect future generations.

3.) Memorial Day Word Search
My kids enjoy doing word puzzles, so I went on the Lakeshore Learning website and used their free word search generator to make a Memorial Day-themed word search. Feel free to download the one I made at the links below, or go back to the website to create your own!

memorial_day_word_search.pdf
File Size:	46 kb
File Type:	pdf

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memorial_day_word_search_key.pdf
File Size:	48 kb
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Learning About The Census

4/27/2016

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Learning About The Census // GrowingLittleLeaves.com

Some of the most important and powerful tools genealogists use to learn about our family histories are census records. But have you ever tried showing a 100-year old census form to a child? Take my word for it, it doesn't go well, and their eyes glaze over quicker than you can explain what a census is.

So, I was on a mission to find a simplified, interactive way to introduce my kids to censuses, which includes teaching them WHAT a census is and WHY we have them. Fortunately, there is a great children's book that helped me to do so. It's called Tricking the Tallyman by Jacqueline Davies and illustrated by S. D. Schindler. The story takes takes places in Vermont in 1790, during the nation's very first census. The story follows the experiences of Phineas Bump, the census-taker, as he attempts to collect an accurate tally of the town of Tunbridge. First, the villagers hide people because they think it will mean more taxes and conscription. Then, on his second try, they inflate numbers because they hear it will be more government representation. When the villagers realize it will bring both more taxes and representation, they cooperate with Phineas and he does get an accurate count in the end. There is a lot of mischief going on in this book, which makes it fun for kids, plus the illustrations are very educational in teaching kids about what people wore and about the types of homes in which they lived back then.

I made two worksheets for kids who want to 'play census.' One is geared towards older children who can read and write independently, but it is still a simplified version of a census form. The other form is much simpler still, and is meant to be used by kids who are not yet reading independently. An adult or older sibling will still have to help a young child out, but the pictures above the columns (for house number, adult men, adult women, boy children, and girl children) will help the child better visualize what he/she is counting. There is even a place for them to do some simple adding of their tally marks. (Click on each image to open the PDFs.)

Learning About The Census with FREE Roleplay Worksheet from GrowingLittleLeaves.com

Census Roleplay Worksheet (Independent Reader)

Learning About The Census with FREE Roleplay Worksheets from GrowingLittleLeaves.com

Census Roleplay Worksheet (Younger Child)

I played census with my 5yo daughter on our front porch. She was the census-taker. We dressed her up in old-time 'fancy' clothes and I gave her a clipboard and a pencil. She took her job very seriously.

If you are friends with your neighbors, ask if your child can come to their door as well to record their family. Or, set up little 'households' with dolls or stuffed animals, so your child will have more 'families' to record.

Once they understand what a census is and how it was accomplished, THEN you can start showing kids actual census schedules on which their ancestors are recorded and talking with them about all the helpful information that we can learn from those records.

©2016 Emily Kowalski Schroeder

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Veterans Day Poppies

11/10/2015

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Veterans Day Poppies // GrowingLittleLeaves.com

November 11th here in the United States is Veterans Day, a day when we pay tribute to all men and women, past and present, who have served the nation through military service. The Commonwealth of Nations celebrates this day as Remembrance Day, and it is a memorial day to honor those who've fallen in military service.

One of the major symbols of Remembrance Day is the red poppy flower. Since I'm always looking for ways in which to teach my kids about why we celebrate holidays like Veterans Day and Memorial Day, I decided a poppy craft might be a great idea. But how do I explain to them WHY the poppy holds significance to honoring veterans?

In our local library's children's biography section, I found the book The Poppy Lady: Moina Belle Michael and Her Tribute to Veterans by Barbara Elizabeth Walsh. The book is targeted toward 7-10 year olds, but I read it to my 5 year old just the same. I simplified some of the vocabulary so she could understand it, and had to explain certain aspects of the book more than I would to an older kid, but she enjoyed it and learned from it (as did I.) Although the book deals with war and destruction and death, the illustrations are realistic without being graphic or disturbing to children. One particular (and beautiful) illustration shows a soldier standing in a cross-filled cemetery in a field covered with red poppies - this really got through to her and she was able to associate the poppies with the fallen soldiers. (She did remark about how sad it was.) Later on in the book, we see Moina and others wearing red poppies on their lapels, and that illustration, too, helped my daughter understand how our act of wearing poppies serves as a reminder to others that we should remember and honor our veterans.

For our craft, first we made a field of poppies. For this, you will just need some red paper, scissors, glue, a green crayon, and a white sheet of paper. We used some red paint sample cards that I had left over from another craft. I had some black buttons lying around, so we used those for the center of each poppy, but you could just use black paper, too.

I traced circles on the paint cards and my daughter cut them out. Then, she glued them on the paper and I glued on the buttons. She drew the flower stems and grass with a green crayon.

Next, I cut a little poppy out of red felt, glued on a button and threaded a paperclip though it. We put it on her backpack and she will "wear" it to school tomorrow.

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Book Review: When Jessie Came Across the Sea

4/17/2014

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Book Review: When Jessie Came Across the Sea // GrowingLittleLeaves.com

Today, April 17, is Ellis Island Family History Day, so I thought that it would be the perfect opportunity to talk about a children's immigration book that I absolutely adore. The book is entitled When Jessie Came Across the Sea. It was written by Amy Hest and illustrated by P.J. Lynch.

Jessie is an orphaned 13-year-old girl living with her grandmother in a small, poor Jewish village, probably somewhere in Eastern Europe. Of all the villagers, the rabbi chooses Jessie to use a passage ticket to America that was sent to him from a family member. Jessie is to go help one of the rabbi's widowed family members in her dress shop in New York City.

The book follows Jessie at every point in her journey, from the sad goodbyes with her grandmother, to the interactions with other immigrants on board, to the questionings at Ellis Island. It touches on Jessie's work in the dress shop, and through letters sent home to grandmother, we are given some insight into some of Jessie's thoughts about living in the big city.

I love this book because it touches on SO many experiences and issues that were involved for immigrants who came to America in the late 19th/early 20th century:

- The positive perception of America to poor Europeans and the value of a passage ticket: Before the rabbi chooses Jessie, many other villagers plead with him for the ticket and talk of America as "the promised land."

- The emotional torment of the ones who stayed behind, in this case the grandmother - knowing that leaving the village was the only way to improve her granddaughter's life, but realizing that it would still break her heart to see her go.

- The poor weather, crowded living conditions, and short tempers on the ship, but also the comradery that developed between passengers.

- The experience of going through Ellis Island: the inspections, questions, and waiting, waiting, waiting.

- The culture shock of going from a small agriculture village to a large industrial city.

- The joys of finding success in America that they never would have found back in their native land.

- The difficulty in learning English.

- Saving enough money to buy a passage ticket for a loved one who is still back in Europe.

- The importance and meaning of family heirlooms, in this case, Jessie's deceased mother's wedding ring.

This book is probably best for ages six and up; the story is longer and more detailed than books for younger children. (I tried to read it to my 3 1/2 year old, but we only made it about 3/4 through until she became bored.) For older children, you could even read the book to them in parts and talk about each of the issues stated above in more detail before moving on to the next event in Jessie's life.

©2014, copyright Emily Kowalski Schroeder. All rights reserved.

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What Is An Heirloom?

4/7/2014

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What Is An Heirloom? // GrowingLittleLeaves.com

he last couple of family history activities we've done have been a little more advanced and geared towards my son's age (6+), so I decided to do a little something simpler with my 3 year old daughter today now that my Kindergartner is back in school.

We read the book, Ella the Elegant Elephant by Carmela and Steven D'amico. Ella is a young elephant who has just moved into town with her mother, who is a baker. Ella is worried about starting school when she finds that her grandmother (who we never meet in the story) has given her lucky hat to her. The book goes onto teach a valuable lesson about bullying and about how to love and help even our enemies. The hat ends up being a magical hat, and the story ends quite happily.

After we finished the book, I went back to the part at which Ella first gets the hat, and I asked my daughter, "Who gave Ella the hat?" She correctly said, "Grandma." I told her that when grandparents give us something that used to belong to them, it is called an 'heirloom.' I asked her if she could say that word, and she did (it came out sounding more like 'air-whoom, which was pretty cute.).

Then, I showed her a cookie tin that used to belong to my grandmother. I told her that my grandma used to bake cookies, and then keep the cookies inside of it. I let her have it and we went to get her play cookies. She put some of her cookies in the tin, along with some of her other play food. I repeated the word 'heirloom' a couple of more times, and then told her that anything could be an heirloom - a book, a quilt or blanket, jewelry, even an old toy. I didn't do so at the time, but you could even ask the child what he/she would like to pass on to someone someday as an heirloom.

I've mentioned it before, but it's difficult to know exactly how much information a 3 year mind can soak in. But using real, concrete family 'treasures' is a great way to get even the youngest children to think about the people who came before them. Repetition is key at this age. I'll continue to let her play with this every so often so we can talk about it, and I have a music box/snowglobe from my other grandmother that I will probably introduce to her soon. Maybe next time I will even bring out some photos of my grandmothers so she can associate a face with the heirloom. (Baby steps, though; overwhelming them with too much information at once will just lead to confusion and disinterest.)

©2014, copyright Emily Kowalski Schroeder.

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Book Review: Evie Finds Her Family Tree

3/24/2014

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Book Review: Evie Finds Her Family Tree // GrowingLittleLeaves.com

This past weekend, I spent a day at the Indiana Historical Society. I was browsing through the books in the Basile History Market (gift shop) and noticed a children's book entitled Evie Finds Her Family Tree by Ashley B. Ransburg. I paged through it briefly, and knew that I had to buy it for my kids.

The book tells the story of a young girl (Evie) who decides to go in search of her family tree after hearing her parents mention the term. Thinking of a family tree in the most literal sense of the word, she searches each tree near her house. At each one, she finds some feature of the tree, either in its leaves or trunk or smell, that reminds her of a member of her family. She ends up collecting the leaves from all the different trees and combining them into one 'family tree.'

The book is beautifully illustrated, combining real life leaves and tree bark, with paper art and simple sketches of the things that Evie is imagining as she examines all of these trees. I absolutely love that this book introduces the concept of a family tree by using actual trees. Young children are very literal, and this book does a great job of showing kids how the trees they see every day can be used to tell a family's story. The story emphasizes the fact that, although everyone in a family is different, we are all part of a common "tree" and a common story.

One of the best parts of this book that I have not yet mentioned is that it comes with a family tree poster. There are spaces for photos and a place to write names under each photo. Kids can start with themselves at the trunk of the tree and make an entire poster of their family, all the way through to their great-grandparents.

Evie Finds Her Family Tree can be ordered through Amazon or from the Indiana Historical Society. The Indiana Historical Society also sells extra copies of the poster itself, so if you are in need of more than one, contact their gift shop.

©2014, copyright Emily Kowalski Schroeder. All rights reserved.

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Introducing Immigration - Part 1

3/3/2014

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Whether your ancestors came to America with the conquistadors, or on the Mayflower, or as late as the early 20th century, chances are that some part of your family history involves taking that long boat ride over from the 'Old World.' Recently, I've been thinking of ways to introduce this concept to my kids (ages 6 and 3 1/2). I have a few ideas that I am going to try and then share in a series of blog posts.

Over the weekend, as a simple introduction to the subject, I read them a book entitled Watch the Stars Come Out by Riki Levinson, illustrated by Diane Goode, published by Puffin. The book tells the story of a young girl and her brother who travel across the ocean to America, where their mother, father and older sister are already living.

Introducing Immigration // GrowingLittleLeaves.com

Watch the Stars Come Out by Riki Levinson

I read the book first to my 3.5 year old daughter, and then separately to my 6 year old son. The book is short enough that my daughter was able to sit through the whole thing, and she actually did a good job of listening and paying attention. She really enjoyed the illustrations, which suit the story well. They are detailed enough to give children a good sense of what the difficult journey was like, but not threatening. The peoples' faces show a lot of emotion and expression, but there is still a sort of child-like quality in which they are drawn that makes them easier for kids to relate to.

When I finished reading it to my daughter, I told her, "My grandma came on a boat like this when she was a little girl. She was Italian and from a country called Italy." My daughter then asked me if she came to visit me, and I told her she came a long time before I was born. Time and thinking of events in the distant past are SUCH difficult concepts to get little kids to understand, so her questions were normal for her age, I think. Interestingly, my husband later asked her if she knew where our family came from and she said, "So Italian." So Italian is the name of a local restaurant that we sometimes eat at. I got a good chuckle out of that, but it also means that she actually listened to at least part of what I was talking to her about.

Obviously, my older son was better able to understand the story and could read a little more into some of the hardships that the book introduced. The children in the story traveled without their parents, only an 'old lady' who was asked to watch over them. (The old lady later falls ill and dies on the trip. We talk about death pretty openly in our house, but if you don't think your child is ready for that much realism, you can just say that she gets sick and can no longer care for them.) I asked my son, "Do you think you'd like to travel that far without your mom and dad?" Of course he said no, but I pointed out that some children had to do that. The story mentioned how long it took to make the voyage (23 days), and we actually looked at his calendar and counted out the days. He definitely had a better sense of time than my three year old. There is a scene where the immigrant children are being examined by a nurse, and I told him that they made the sick people stay in special buildings until they got better. He also recognized the Statue of Liberty in one of the illustrations and told me that they had talked about it in school (he is in Kindergarten).

One question my kids did NOT ask was WHY people came to America. I find this incredibly ironic because they typically ask 'Why?' when it comes to nearly every other aspect of life. Anyway, I think even little kids can understand reasons like, "They needed to find a job," or "There wasn't enough to eat," or "They already knew people who lived here." Next time we read this book, I will address the subject with my kids, if they don't ask again.

The next step in this investigation is to pull out the maps. If you are ambitious and think your child could handle it, you could probably use an atlas while reading this book and talk more specifically where YOUR family emigrated from. I have decided to go in smaller steps and just read the story first. So, look for at least one (probably more) map-related blog post from me in the near future. :-)

©2014, copyright Emily Kowalski Schroeder. All rights reserved.

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Forward>>

40 Picture Books About the Immigrant Experience

40 Picture Books About the Immigrant Experience

Book Review: The Keeping Quilt and The Blessing Cup

50 Books For Grandparents Day

Helping Kids Understand Memorial Day

Learning About The Census

Veterans Day Poppies

Book Review: When Jessie Came Across the Sea

What Is An Heirloom?

Book Review: Evie Finds Her Family Tree

Introducing Immigration - Part 1

Emily Kowalski Schroeder

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