"At the front of a middle school classroom in Oklahoma, a boy named Khosrou (whom everyone calls "Daniel") stands, trying to tell a story. His story. But no one believes a word he says. To them he is a dark-skinned, hairy-armed boy with a big butt whose lunch smells funny; who makes things up and talks about poop too much. But Khosrou's stories, stretching back years, and decades, and centuries, are beautiful, and terrifying, from the moment his...

Sent with her mother to the safety of a relative's home in Cincinnati when her Syrian hometown is overshadowed by violence, Jude worries for the family members who were left behind as she adjusts to a new life with unexpected surprises.

Nine-year-old Kirsten and her family experience many hardships as they travel from Sweden to the Minnesota frontier in 1854.

Celebrates United States immigration and the country's diverse immigrant heritage.

"What would you take? Imagine you were leaving for a new country and could bring along only what would fit in a small suitcase. Which things would you choose to say to the world, "Hi there, this is me!""--

The experiences of people coming to the United States from many different lands are conveyed in the words of a contemporary young girl visiting Ellis Island and of a girl who immigrated in about 1910, as well as by quotes from early twentieth century immigrants and Ellis Island officials.

In nineteenth-century Norway, fourteen-year-old Astri, whose aunt has sold her to a mean goatherder, dreams of joining her father in America.

A young child describes what it is like to be a migrant as she and her father travel north toward the U.S. border. They travel mostly on the roof of a train known as The Beast, but the little girl doesn't know where they are going. She counts the animals by the road, the clouds in the sky, the stars. Sometimes she sees soldiers. She sleeps, dreaming that she is always on the move, although sometimes they are forced to stop and her father has to earn...

"Ella's best friend, Monkey, doesn't like good-bye hugs. He doesn't want to say goodbye to Oma. And he doesn't want to move away forever. Neither does Ella. But papa is waiting for them in New York. So Ella and Monkey must board the ship with Mama and leave their home in Holland for their new home in America. Along the way the way, there is fish for dinner (Monkey hates fish), a playroom full of new kids (Monkey doesn't like strangers), and stormy...

Immigrating to America, a young girl navigates between her family's Bengali traditions and her new country's culture.