Historical Fiction

Immigrants to the U.S.

J/F/AUCH
Auch, Mary Jane - Ashes of Roses - 1911
Margaret Rose, newly arrived from Ireland, finds a job at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory shortly before the infamous shop fire that killed 146 workers. 250p.

J/F/AVI
Avi - Escape from Home - 1851
Three children meet up on the road to Liverpool, the departure point for ships bound for America. Maura and Patrick are fleeing the potato famine in Ireland and Laurence, the son of an English lord, is running away from an abusive home. They team up to help each other accomplish their goal—escape to America. 295p.

J/F/DEAR
Yep, Laurence - The Journal of Wong-Ming Chung: A Chinese Miner - 1896
A Chinese boy, nicknamed Runt, travels from China to California to join his uncle during the California gold rush. 219p.

J/F/DEAR
Durbin, William - The Journal of Otto Peltonen: A Finnish Immigrant - 1905
Otto describes his travels from Finland to America, where he joins his father in a dreary iron mining community in Minnesota and becomes involved in a union fight for better working conditions. 171p.

J/F/DEAR
Lasky, Kathryn - Dreams in the Golden Country - 1903
Zippy, a Jewish immigrant from Russia, keeps a diary account of her family's life on the Lower East Side of New York. 188p.

J/F/GIFF
Giff, Patricia Reilly - Nory Ryan's Song - 1845
Nory's quiet life ends when her family's potato crop fails. Facing the horrors of homelessness and starvation, Nory helps her family survive the Irish potato famine and pins her hopes on escaping to America. 148p.

J/F/GUNDISCH
Gundisch, Karin - How I Became an American - 1902
Johann's family makes the long ocean voyage from Austria-Hungry to America where they join his father, already working in the Ohio steel mills, and struggle to make new lives as Americans. 120p.

J/F/HESSE
Hesse, Karen - Letters from Rifka - 1919
In letters to her cousin, Rifka describes her family's flight from Russia in 1919. Due to a case of ringworm, Rifka must stay behind by herself in Belgium while the rest of her family travels on to America. She will only be allowed to join them if her condition is cured. 148p.

J/F/LASKY
Lasky, Kathryn - Hope in My Heart - 1903
After her family immigrates to America from Italy, Sofia is quarantined at the Ellis Island Immigration Station, where she makes a good friend but must endure terrible conditions and endless waiting. 106p.

J/F/MAYERSON
Mayerson, Evelyn Wilde - The Cat Who Escaped from Steerage
Living in the steerage section of a steamship bound for America, Chanah tries to hide the cat she has snuck on board. 66p.

J/F/NIXON
Nixon, Joan Lowery - Land of Hope - 1902
Rebekah, a Jewish Russian immigrant, and her family arrive in America and discover that the streets of New York are not paved in gold. She fears that she will have to give up her dream of becoming a teacher when she must work seven days a week in a sweat shop to help her family. 171p.

J/F/PASTORE
Pastore, Clare - Fiona McGilray's Story: A Voyage from Ireland in 1849 - 1849
Fiona and her brother immigrate to Boston to escape the Irish potato famine and must establish a new life for themselves in this strange new country. 182p.

J/F/SCHNEIDER
Schneider, Mical - Annie Quinn in America - 1847
To escape the Irish potato famine, Annie and her brother emigrate to New York where they join their older sister and work as servants to earn money to bring the rest of their family to America. 246p.

Prepared by S. Pemberton, July 2004