In Julia Alvarez’s Afterlife, Antonia’s commitment to her family and willingness to support others highlights her selfless nature, even at the expense of her needs and desires. Antonia hesitates when one of Antonia’s neighbors, Mario, asks if his girlfriend Estela, an undocumented immigrant, can stay at Antonia’s house due to the precarious situation she may face. She explains that she cannot “handle something like this right now” because she is grieving the recent passing of her husband, Sam (Alvarez 29).
American Street by Ibi Zoboi is a compelling novel that follows the journey of Fabiola Toussaint, a Haitian immigrant, as she moves to Detroit with her mother to join their family. However, Fabiola's mother is detained at the U.S. border, leaving Fabiola to navigate the challenges of American life alone. The story explores themes of identity, cultural clash, and the pursuit of the American dream.
Enrique’s Journey tells a story about the immigration of a young boy (Enrique) who was separated from his mother as she looked for job opportunities in the United States. After longing for his mother for years, he decides to make the journey to find his mother. Alongside the storyline, Nazario explains the difficulty many children like Enrique faced when attempting to immigrate to the U.S. and how they overcame them.
Red Glass is a young adult realistic fiction novel by Laura Resau. Sophie lives in Arizona near the Mexican border, and her family often provides short-term shelter for refugees. One night, a young boy comes to live with Sophie and her diverse little family after becoming an orphan trying to cross the border into the United States. When the boy’s family finally makes contact a year later, Sophie and her family will leave the United States to find the boy’s home.
This book encompasses the stories of multiple teens who made the journey to America through hardships and struggles in order to live a better life for themselves and their families. The book is written in first person and through short stories that allow the reader to get to know the subjects of the story and from the mouths of the immigrants themselves, without influencing the reader to think a certain way about the issue. I think that the cover was really powerful because It draws the attention directly to the title, which is ultimately the message of the book.
Life is hard enough being a teenager. But when you and your family are secretly illegal immigrants from Iran, things can get even more complicated. Sara's parents fled Iran when she was only two years old, and she didn't learn her undocumented status until her sister tried to apply for an after-school job, but couldn't because she didn't have a social security number. This memoir follows her teenage experiences with her family and at school as well as her progress toward getting her green card.
