Coming to America Book Summaries
Behind the Mountains-Edwidge Danticat
This is a story of a family in rural Haiti. They have a farm and sell sweets at the market to make a living, but times are
tough so their father goes to New York to make money to send home. The family is waiting to join him in New York, but
it takes five years for the process to be complete. While they are waiting in Haiti the 2000 presidential election causes
riots, bombs and shootings that make the country feel very unsafe. When Celiane and her mother are involved in one of
these bombing and are injured it seems even more urgent that they get to New York to be with their father.
Once they arrive in New York, things are not as perfect as they thought they would be. Their father and mother both
work a lot. The school Celiane attends has gang and violence problems. And Moy, Celiane’s older brother, does not
want to be a part of the family anymore. This book shows the struggle many new immigrants have coming to America.
It shows the culture shock that occurs and the strain that this has on the family involved.
Little Cricket-Jackie Brown
This is the story of a Hmong family living in Laos during the Vietnam War. The story starts out telling of all the beauty
and joy associated with living in the mountains of Laos and focuses on a young girl named Kia and her family. There is a
murmur of war that makes its way through the town, but many believe it is too far off to worry about. However, one
night a group of Vietnamese soldiers come and capture all of the able-bodied men from the village including Kia’s father.
The women and children try to get along on their own and hope for the return of the men. The war is moving ever
closer though, and many families choose to flee to Thailand by crossing the Mekong River. This is a very dangerous
endeavor, but Kia and her family make it. When they make it to Thailand they are placed into a refugee camp with many
other Hmong families. Eventually they are told that they are eligible to go to America, but when the woman comes to
give them their travel information they find out only Kia, her grandfather and older brother Xigi are listed to go. Her
mother and grandmother must stay behind.
So the three members of the family are sent to St. Paul, Minnesota to live in a small apartment. The struggles between
their old life in Laos and their new life in St. Paul are enormous. The longing for their missing family members is also a
great struggle and each deals with it I in their own way. Xigi withdraws from the family and acts as if he doesn’t want to
be a part of it. Grandfather withdraws into making traditional Hmong quilts and refusing to take English classes, and Kia
is caught between the two of them. Kia and grandfather are able to grow some vegetables and sell them at the Farmer’s
Market and make a decent amount of money, and eventually the family is reunited in St. Paul.
The Arrival-Shaun Tan
This is a wordless picture book that depicts the strange seen one might see when arriving in a new land. Throughout the
entire story the reader is left with many questions about what is going on. It is apparent that a young man must leave
his family because something bad is going on in the country they are in. He comes to a strange land where everything
looks different and there are strange animals all around. The man starts to adapt to the strange place and is able to get
a job and make some friends. Toward the end the pictures become more joyful, and it appears as if the bad thing that
was happening is over and the young daughter and mother are able to be reunited with the father. This book would be
good to use with older kids if they were doing an immigration unit and had already read some books about immigration.
They would be able to use the information they had previously read about immigration to create a story about
immigration from the pictures in this book.