Here are some new books for children and young adults about life between cultures or the immigrant experience released this Spring, gleaned from School Library Journal and other sources. The Fire Escape also has lists of books between cultures released in Spring of 2003, Fall of 2003, Spring of 2004, and Fall of 2004. Please note that I have not yet read nor reviewed any of these books. Check the Fire Escape's reviews of highly-recommended books, or go to the Fire Escape's bookshelf, which features the best of the lists. Click on the book's title to read more about it at Amazon.com. Send me any titles I'm missing, or sign up for the Books Between Cultures group and add suggestions there. Thanks for caring about kids between cultures!
Banerjee, Anjali, Maya Running, Wendy Lamb Books, Random House. It is 1978 in Manitoba, Canada, and 13-year-old Maya walks a fine line between wanting to fit in and being curious about her Indian heritage.
Read the Fire Escape's Review!
De La Cruz, Melissa, Fresh Off The Boat, HarperCollins. Vicenza Arambullo, 14, is a recent immigrant to San Francisco from Manila, where her family was wealthy. On scholarship, the teen attends a private girls’ school where she is an outcast. (Gr 7-10).
Dhami, Narinder, Bollywood Babes, Delacorte. In this sequel to Bindi Babes (Delacorte, 2004), Geena, Amber, and Jazz come to the aid of a former Bollywood star who’s fallen on hard times. (Gr. 5-7).
Park, Linda Sue, Project Mulberry, Clarion. When Julia Song moves with her family to Plainfield, IL, where they are the only Korean family in town, she becomes good friends with her neighbor Patrick. Together, they raise silkworms as a project for the state fair. (Gr. 5-8).
Perkins, Mitali, The Not-So-Star-Spangled Life Of Sunita Sen, Little Brown. When her (Eastern) Indian grandparents arrive for a year-long visit, outgoing eighth grader Sunita Sen feels caught between two cultures.
Soto, Gary, Help Wanted: Stories, Harcourt. Ten original short stories about Mexican-American teens in central California, tied together by a theme of “needing help.” (Gr. 6-9).
Stine, Catherine, Refugees, Delacorte. Two young people on opposite sides of the globe — an American girl and an Afghani boy — flee everything they know. In a world turned upside down by tragedy, they are refugees. (Gr. 7-up).
Volponi, Paul, Black And White, Viking. Marcus and Eddie are best friends. They’re also stars on the basketball court, where they’re known as Black and White. Race has never been an issue: Marcus is black, Eddie is white, but it doesn’t matter. Until they start to pull stickups for extra pocket cash and the gun they’re using goes off. Now Marcus is going to jail and Eddie is going to college, even though Eddie is the one who fired the gun.
Yoo, David, Girls For Breakfast, Delacorte. Nick Park, a Korean American, describes himself as “the only non-Anglo-Saxon student in suburban Connecticut,” and blames his Korean looks for his lack of popularity and girlfriends. (Gr. 9-up).