In recent blogs we’ve talked about whether economic pressures and anti-immigrant sentiment will have an effect on our transracially adopted children. I wrote one blog on how adults can explore our own feelings about diversity.
The blog Combatting Racism in Children, Part One talked about how children form attitudes and the importance of creating a diverse environment for young children, including diversity in pictures and in dramatic play props such as dress-up clothes and food.
This blog will talk about some books and films that encourage an understanding of other cultures and of immigrants to America. There are many more than I can include here, of course. Other titles that may be relevant can be found by perusing the “Adoption Books” section of the adoption blog. If you have a favorite resource of your own, by all means leave a comment and let us know!
I like to start by recognizing that most Americans have a legacy of immigration, not just those of a different skin color. An excellent book for children is Coming to America: a Story of Immigration, by Betsy Maestro. Another story that may resonate with children who’ve just celebrated Thanksgiving is How Many Days to America? A Thanksgiving Story, by Eve Bunting. This book depicts refugees fleeing their country, enduring a hazardous voyage, and arriving in America and being offered a meal.
A book for young children, My Name is Yoon, talks about a girl starting school in America, trying to write her name in English instead of Korean, and wondering whether to take an “American name”. For children in grades three to eight, and perhaps even older, some of the best books are those by Lensey Namioka. The books are about the Yang family who have immigrated to Seattle from China. The first book, Yang the Youngest and his Terrible Ear, is narrated by the fourth Yang child, a nine-year-old boy. The next book, Yang the Third and her Impossible Family, is narrated by the ten-year-old girl. Yang the Second and her Secret Admirers and Yang the Eldest and his Odd Jobs, are about the teenagers in the family. Family relationships are caring. The stories are relevant to American children—discovering talents that may be different from others, cliques and true friends, loneliness—but children also learn a lot about Chinese culture just from the characters’ daily lives. Incidents of misunderstanding are shown in dialog so we can see the reasoning of both participants.
Another book by Lensey Namioka, Half and Half, is not directly about immigration but about a girl who is half Chinese and half Scottish. Since most people see her only as Chinese, she tries to make herself seem more Scottish. Then people think it is funny for a Scottish person to be in a Chinese dance group. She must find a way to please both sets of grandparents when her Chinese dance team faces a scheduling conflict during Seattle’s annual Folklife Festival.
The American Girl book Good luck, Ivy is about a Chinese-American girl expected to go to Chinese school and participate in her family reunion but wants to be on a gymnastics team and doesn’t see a use for learning Chinese.
Books by Marie Lee will be of interest to older children. In Finding My Voice, a Korean-American high school senior deals with prejudice from some classmates, pressure from her parents, and decisions about college. Saying Goodbye is the sequel, in which Ellen is a freshman at Harvard who decides to explore and embrace her Korean heritage.
In Lee’s book Necessary Roughness, a sixteen-year-old Asian-American football player moves from Los Angeles to Minnesota and deals with prejudice from his new teammates.
The website www.cultureforkids.com has many resources for many countries, from the Arab countries to Cambodia to Mexico and many more. It has a small section called “coming to America” which tells of some young immigrants’ experiences.