Immigration Books for Middle Grade Readers
A collection of chapter books aimed at ages 9-12 about immigration and immigrant families.
Other Words For Home by Jasmine Warga
Published: May 2019
Jude never thought she’d be leaving her beloved older
brother and father behind, all the way across the ocean in Syria. But when
things in her hometown start becoming volatile, Jude and her mother are sent to
live in Cincinnati with relatives.
At first, everything in America seems too fast and too loud. The American
movies that Jude has always loved haven’t quite prepared her for starting
school in the US—and her new label of “Middle Eastern,” an identity she’s never
known before. But this life also brings unexpected surprises—there are new
friends, a whole new family, and a school musical that Jude might just try out
for. Maybe America, too, is a place where Jude can be seen as she really is.
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Inside Out and Back Again by Thanhha Lai
Published: February 2011
For all the ten years of her life, HÃ has only known Saigon: the thrills of its markets, the joy of its traditions, and the warmth of her friends close by. But now the Vietnam War has reached her home. HÃ and her family are forced to flee as Saigon falls, and they board a ship headed toward hope. In America, HÃ discovers the foreign world of Alabama: the coldness of its strangers, the dullness of its food . . . and the strength of her very own family.
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Front Desk by Kelly Yang
Published: May 2018
Mia Tang has a lot of secrets.
Number 1: She lives in a motel, not a big house. Every day, while her immigrant
parents clean the rooms, ten-year-old Mia manages the front desk of the
Calivista Motel and tends to its guests.
Number 2: Her parents hide immigrants. And if the mean motel owner, Mr. Yao,
finds out they've been letting them stay in the empty rooms for free, the Tangs
will be doomed.
Number 3: She wants to be a writer. But how can she when her mom thinks she
should stick to math because English is not her first language?
It will take all of Mia's courage, kindness, and hard work to get through this
year. Will she be able to hold on to her job, help the immigrants and guests,
escape Mr. Yao, and go for her dreams?
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Pie In The Sky by Remy Lai
Published: May 2019
When eleven-year-old Jingwen moves to a new country, he
feels like he's landed on Mars. School is torture, making friends is impossible
since he doesn’t speak English, and he's often stuck looking after his
(extremely irritating) little brother, Yanghao.
To distract himself from the loneliness, Jingwen daydreams about making all the
cakes on the menu of Pie in the Sky, the bakery his father had planned to open
before he unexpectedly passed away. The only problem is his mother has laid
down one major rule: the brothers are not to use the oven while she's at work.
As Jingwen and Yanghao bake elaborate cakes, they'll have to cook up elaborate
excuses to keep the cake making a secret from Mama.
Told in prose and graphic novel elements, this middle-grade novel is about a
boy's immigration experience, his annoying little brother, and their
cake-baking hijinks!
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Love, Love by Victoria Chang
Published: June 2020
Frances Chin, a 10-year old Chinese-American girl, lives in the suburbs of Detroit with her immigrant parents and older sister, Clara. At school Frances copes with bullies and the loneliness that comes with not quite fitting in. At home, she feels a different kind of aloneness. Her parents are preoccupied with work and worry about Clara, whose hair is inexplicably falling out. But, with the help of her friend Annie, Frances is determined to play Nancy Drew and solve the mystery of Clara’s condition.
She also faces the everyday challenges and unexpected thrills of being a tween, especially when she receives encouragement from a tennis coach. Although she struggles to speak up, Frances’s powerful inner voice resonates in gorgeous imagery and evocative free verse.
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The Land of Forgotten Girls by Erin Kelly
Published: February 2017
Soledad has always been able to escape into the stories she creates. Just like her mother always could. And Soledad has needed that escape more than ever in the five years since her mother and sister died, and her father moved Sol and her youngest sister from the Philippines to Louisiana.
After her father leaves, all Sol and Ming have is their evil stepmother, Vea. Sol has protected Ming all this time, but then Ming begins to believe that Auntie Jove—their mythical, world-traveling aunt—is really going to come rescue them. Can Sol protect Ming from this impossible hope?
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American As Paneer Pie by Supriya Kelkar
Published: May 2021
As the only Indian American kid in her small town, Lekha Divekar feels like she has two versions of herself: Home Lekha, who loves watching Bollywood movies and eating Indian food, and School Lekha, who pins her hair over her bindi birthmark and avoids confrontation at all costs, especially when someone teases her for being Indian.When a girl Lekha’s age moves in across the street, Lekha is excited to hear that her name is Avantika and she’s Desi, too! Finally, there will be someone else around who gets it. But as soon as Avantika speaks, Lekha realizes she has an accent. She’s new to this country, and not at all like Lekha.
To Lekha’s surprise, Avantika does not feel the same way as Lekha about having two separate lives or about the bullying at school. Avantika doesn’t take the bullying quietly. And she proudly displays her culture no matter where she is: at home or at school.
When a racist incident rocks Lekha’s community, Lekha realizes she must make a choice: continue to remain silent or find her voice before it’s too late.
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The Year I Flew Away by Marie Arnold
Published: February 2021
It’s 1985 and ten-year-old Gabrielle is excited to be moving from Haiti to America. Unfortunately, her parents won’t be able to join her yet and she’ll be living in a place called Brooklyn, New York, with relatives she has never met.
She promises her parents that she will
behave, but life proves to be difficult in the United States, from
learning the language to always feeling like she doesn’t fit in to being
bullied. So when a witch offers her a chance to speak English perfectly
and be “American,” she makes the deal. But soon she realizes how much
she has given up by trying to fit in and, along with her two new friends
(one of them a talking rat), takes on the witch in an epic battle to
try to reverse the spell.
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Barefoot Dreams of Petra Luna by Alda P. Dobbs
Published: September 2021
It is 1913, and twelve-year-old Petra Luna's mama has died while the Revolution rages in Mexico. Before her papa is dragged away by soldiers, Petra vows to him that she will care for the family she has left—her abuelita, little sister Amelia, and baby brother Luisito—until they can be reunited. They flee north through the unforgiving desert as their town burns, searching for safe harbor in a world that offers none.
Each night when Petra closes her eyes, she holds her dreams close, especially her long-held desire to learn to read. Abuelita calls these barefoot dreams: "They're like us barefoot peasants and indios—they're not meant to go far." But Petra refuses to listen. Through battlefields and deserts, hunger and fear, Petra will stop at nothing to keep her family safe and lead them to a better life across the U.S. border—a life where her barefoot dreams could finally become reality.
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Efrén Nava’s Amá is his Superwoman—or Soperwoman, named after the delicious Mexican sopes his mother often prepares. Both Amá and Apá work hard all day to provide for the family, making sure Efrén and his younger siblings Max and MÃa feel safe and loved.
But Efrén worries about his parents; although he’s American-born, his parents are undocumented. His worst nightmare comes true one day when Amá doesn’t return from work and is deported across the border to Tijuana, México.
Now more than ever, Efrén must channel his inner Soperboy to help take care of and try to reunite his family.
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Half-Muslim, half-Hindu twelve-year-old Nisha doesn't know where she belongs, or what her country is anymore. When Papa decides it's too dangerous to stay in what is now Pakistan, Nisha and her family become refugees and embark first by train but later on foot to reach her new home. The journey is long, difficult, and dangerous, and after losing her mother as a baby, Nisha can't imagine losing her homeland, too. But even if her country has been ripped apart, Nisha still believes in the possibility of putting herself back together.
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Then one day, Betita's beloved father is arrested by Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE) and deported to Mexico. Betita and her pregnant mother are left behind on their own, but soon they too are detained and must learn to survive in a family detention camp outside of Los Angeles. Even in cruel and inhumane conditions, Betita finds heart in her own poetry and in the community she and her mother find in the camp. The voices of her fellow asylum seekers fly above the hatred keeping them caged, but each day threatens to tear them down lower than they ever thought they could be. Will Betita and her family ever be whole again?
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