This list is for MMS students entering eighth grade in the fall of 2010
Eighth Grade:Immigration(1890's-1920's) Fiction/Non-Fiction
Voyage by Adele Geras
Relates the experiences of a group of Jewish young people in the early twentieth century as they journey from their homes in Eastern Europe to the united States in search of a new life.
Letters From Rifka by Karen Hess(Young Adult)
In letters to her cousin, a young Jewish girl chronicles her family's flight from Russia in 1919 and her own experiences when she must be left in Belgium for a while when the others emigrate to America.
Land of Hope by Joan Lowery Nixon
Rebekah, a fifteen-year-old Jewish immigrant arriving in New York in 1902, almost abandons her dream of getting an education when she is forced to work in a sweatshop.
Colors of Freedom: Immigrant Stories by Janet Bode
Newly arrived teenage immigrants describe their experiences in America, recount traditions of their native countries, and present short stories, poems, recipes, and artwork. Also provides interviews with native born American teenagers who share their family histories.
Bridge to America by Linda Glaser
"Based on a true story." Eight year old Fivel narrates the story of his family's Atlantic Ocean crossing to reunite with their father in the United States, from its desperate beginning in a shtetl in Poland in 1920 to his stirrings of identity as an American boy.
Dear America Series(books about immigration in the 1890's-1920's) Example title: A Coal Miner's Bride: The Diary of Anetka Kaminska by Susan C. Bartoletti
Immigrant Kids by Russell Friedman
Text and contemporary photographs chronicle the life of immigrant children at home, school, work, and play during the late 1800's and early 1900's.
I Was Dreaming of Coming to America by Veronica Lawler
Fifteen immigrants recall their arrival on Ellis Island.
The Dragon's child: A Story of Angel Island by Laurence Yep
Ten-year-old Gim Lew Yep immigrates from China to America with his father, whom Gim barely knows, and fears he will be a disappointment to his family when he arrives at Angel Island.
If Your Name Was Changed at Ellis Island by Ellen Levine
Facts about the many rigorous routines and tests (medical, legal, literacy) new arrivals endured are peppered with the intriguing personal reminiscences of individuals who lived lived through them.
Dear Mr. President by Jennifer Armstrong
A new series in which readers meet a president through fictional correspondence with a young person of the time period. In this volume, children learn about mining life and work in Pennsylvania in the early 1900's. Fifteen-year-old Frank Kovacs comes to life through his letters while the contrasts of economic class and social roles are made vivid by Roosevelt's letters.
Streets of Gold by Marie Raphael
A Polish girl comes to America at the turn of the century in this fast-historical novel about the immigrant experience.
The Orphan of Ellis Island by Elvira Woodruff
During a school trip to Ellis Island, Dominick Avaro, a ten-year-old foster child, travels back in time to 1908 Italy and accompanies two young emigrants to America.
Call Me Ruth by Marilyn Sachs
Immigrant Ruth loves America, but she is embarrassed by her mother, who speaks only Yiddish and dresses like a greenhorn. Then, Mama is arrested for union activities, and Ruth discovers what truly matters
Double Crossing: A Jewish Immigrant Story by Eve Tal
In 1905, as life becomes increasingly difficult for Jews in Ukraine, eleven-year-old Raizel and her father flee to America in hopes of earning money to bring the rest of the family there, but her father's health and Orthodox faith become barriers.
The Memory Coat by Elvira Woodruff
In the early 1900's, two cousins leave their Russian shtetl with the rest of their family to come to America, hopeful that they will all pass the dreaded inspection at Ellis Island.
Maggie's Door by Patricia Reilly Giff
The story of the journey from Ireland to America told by both Nory and her neighbor and friend Sean Red Mallon, two different stories with the same destination-the home of Nory's sister Maggie, at 416 smith Street, Brooklyn, America.
A Boy from Ireland by Marie Raphael
Set in 1901, this is the exciting story of Liam, a fourteen-year-old, half -Irish, half-English boy who triumphs over a bully and a cycle of hatred through friendship and the love of a horse.
The Great Wheel by Robert Lawson and Richard Peck
Eighteen-year-old Conn leaves Ireland and sails to America, where he helps build the first ferris wheel for the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893.
Ashes of Roses by Mary Jane Auch
Sixteen-year-old Margaret Rose Nolan, newly arrived from Ireland, finds work at New York City's Triangle Shirtwaist Factory shortly before the 1911 fire in which 146 employees died.
Alligator Bayou by Donna Jo Napoli
Fourteen-year-old Calogero Scalise and his Sicilian uncles and cousin live in a small town Louisiana in 1898, when Jim Crow laws rule and anti-immigration sentiment is strong, so despite his attempts to be polite and to follow American customs, disaster dogs his family at every turn.
Lost by Jacqueline Davis
In 1911 New York, sixteen-year-old Essie Rosenfeld must stop taking care of her irrepressible six-year-old sister when she goes to work at the triangle Waist Company, where she befriends a missing heiress who is in hiding from her family and who seems to understand the feelings of heartache and grief that Essie is trying desperately to escape.
Brooklyn Bridge by Karen Hesse
In 1903 Brooklyn, fourteen-year-old Joseph Michtom's life changes for the worse when his parents, Russian immigrants, invent the teddy bear and turn their apartment into a factory, while nearby the glitter of Coney Island contrasts with the dismal lives of children dwelling under the Brooklyn Bridge.
How I Became an American by Karen Gundisch
In 1902, ten-year-old Johann and his family, Germans who had been living in Austria-Hungary, board a ship to immigrate to Youngstown, Ohio, where they make a new life as Americans.
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