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Modern Mayflower

Celebrate the continuing migrant heritage and immigrant communities in the US with this collection of recommended novels and memoirs.

Modern America was founded by immigrants, since the very first pilgrims landed on its shores. Since then, people from all over the world have come here for opportunities, but life here is not easy, either, and immigrants face many unique struggles. Learning a new language and getting familiar with a new culture are just a couple, as well as the even bigger struggle of racism and discrimination.

The books in this list are stories about late 20th and early 21st century immigrants and their children. Some focus entirely on life in America (or, in one case, Canada), while others give a background of the characters’ time in their native countries. Some are entirely fiction, while others are memoirs, but even fictional stories are rooted in truth–especially these.

Digital book (DB, DBC), braille (BR), and large print (LT) copies of these titles are available from the Perkins Library or the Worcester Talking Book Library. Please contact the library to order any of these books.

Prepared by Sarah Durkin

Reader Advisor

Perkins Library


Beautiful Country

by Qian Julie Wang

DB 105816, BR 24250, Available as BARD Download

The author reflects on the highs and lows of her experiences immigrating to New York City and growing up as an undocumented and impoverished child. She recounts her parents’ stresses, her struggles in school, and the joys that she found alongside the fears. Bestseller. 2021.

Download Beautiful Country, DB 105816

Download Braille, Beautiful Country, BR 24250

Behold the Dreamers

by Imbolo Mbue

DB 85537, LT 21165, Available as BARD Download

In 2007, Cameroonian immigrants Jende and Neni Jonga are living in Harlem with their six-year-old son. Jende has hired as a chauffeur for a Lehman Brothers executive, and they feel like their future is secure. But secrets abound and threaten their marriage. PEN/Faulkner Award Winner. 2016.

Download Behold the Dreamers, DB 85537

The Boat People

by Sharon Bala

DB 90817, BRG 4207DB available as BARD Download

Mahindan and his six-year-old son Sellian arrive in Canada on a rusty cargo ship carrying five hundred other refugees from Sri Lanka. Hoping for a better life, Mahindan is instead incarcerated and Sellian put into foster care as government officials investigate fears of terrorists hiding among the refugees. 2018.

Download The Boat People, DB 90817

Download Braille, The Boat People, BRG 4207

Fresh Off the Boat

by Eddie Huang

DB 80907, BR 20702, Available as BARD Download

Memoir by Chinese-American restaurateur Huang. Relates growing up first in the Washington, D.C., area and later in Florida as the son of immigrants. Describes challenges he faced due to his heritage and ways he adapted to American culture. Inspiration for 2015 television show. Strong language and some descriptions of sex. 2013.

Download Fresh Off the Boat, DB 80907

Download Braille, Fresh Off the Boat, BR 20702

Girl in Translation

by Jean Kwok

DB 73069, Available as BARD Download

Eleven-year-old Ah-Kim “Kimberly” Chang and her widowed mother move to New York City before the 1997 Chinese takeover of their native Hong Kong. They live in an unheated apartment and work in Kimberly’s aunt’s Brooklyn sweatshop. But Kimberly’s intelligence earns her a private-school scholarship and hope for the future. 2010.

Download Girl in Translation, DB 73069

Go Back to Where You Came From: And Other Helpful Recommendations on How to Become American

by Wajahat Ali

DBC 27456, Available as BARD Download

Journalist, playwright, and political activist tackles the dangers of Islamophobia, white supremacy, and chocolate hummus, peppering personal stories with astute insights into national security, immigration, and pop culture. Describes growing up living the suburban American dream: awkward, left-handed, suffering from OCD, and wearing Husky pants, on the margins of the American mainstream, devoid of Brown superheroes, where people like him were portrayed as goofy sidekicks, shop owners with funny accents, sweaty terrorists, or aspiring sweaty terrorists. Driven by his desire to expand the American narrative to include protagonists who look like him, he became a writer, and in the aftermath of the 9/11 terror attacks, an accidental activist and ambassador of all things Muslim-y.

Download Go Back to Where You Came From, DBC 27456

A Good Provider Is One Who Leaves

by Jason DeParle

DB 96352, BR 23865, Available as BARD Download

The true multi-generational saga of a Filipino immigrant family who eventually reached Texas. Describes their years of sacrifice and separation and discusses the role of migration in the twenty-first century, particularly in American politics. Some strong language. 2019.

Download A Good Provider Is One Who Leaves, DB 96352

Download Braille, A Good Provider Is One Who Leaves, BR 23865

I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter

by Erika L. Sánchez

DB 89358, LT 27384, Available as BARD Download

After her older sister, Olga, dies suddenly, Julia knows she cannot live up to her sister’s standards in the eyes of her traditional family. But she soon discovers that Olga may not have been as perfect as everyone thought. For senior high and older readers. 2017.

Download I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter, DB 89358

Illegally Yours: A Memoir

by Rafael Agustin

DB 109679, Available as BARD Download

Growing up, Rafa’s parents didn’t want him to feel different because, as his mom told him: “Dreams should not have borders.” But when he tried to get his driver’s license during his junior year of high school, his parents were forced to reveal his immigration status. While his parents were relieved to no longer live a lie in front of their son, Rafa found himself completely unraveling in the face of his uncertain future. 2022.

Download Illegally Yours: A Memoir, DB 109679

Infinite Country

by Patricia Engel

DB 102478, BR 23717, LT 29560, Available as BARD Download

Talia is being held at a correctional facility for girls in the mountains of Colombia after committing an impulsive act of violence. She urgently needs to get back home to Bogotá, where her father and a plane ticket to the United States are waiting for her. Strong language and some violence. 2021.

Download Infinite Country, DB 102487

Download Braille, Infinite Country, BR 23717

A Map Is Only One Story: Twenty Writers on Immigration, Family, and the Meaning of Home

ed. Nicole Chung and Mensah Demary

DB 99082, BR 23142, Available as BARD Download

A collection of essays from various writers highlighting the human side of immigration policies and polarized rhetoric through personal stories. Includes writing from, among others, Victoria Blanco, Nina Li Coomes, Nur Nasreen Ibrahim, and Porochista Khakpour. Strong language and some violence. 2019.

Download A Map is Only One Story, DB 99082

Download Braille, A Map is Only One Story, BR 23142

Patsy

by Nicole Dennis-Benn

DB 96109, LT 27626, Available as BARD Download

When Patsy gets her long-coveted visa to America, it comes after years of yearning to leave Pennyfield, the impoverished Jamaican town where she was raised. More than anything, Patsy wishes to be reunited with her oldest friend, Cicely, whose letters arrive from New York steeped in the promise of a happier life and the possible rekindling of their young love. But when Patsy arrives in Brooklyn with her five-year-old daughter, Tru, America is not as Cicely’s treasured letters described; to survive as an undocumented immigrant, she is forced to work as a bathroom attendant and nanny. Patsy weaves between the lives of Patsy and Tru in vignettes spanning more than a decade. 2019.

Download Patsy, DB 96109

Peach Blossom Spring

by Melissa Fu

DB 107173, Available as BARD Download

China, 1938. As a young wife, Meilin’s future is bright. But with the Japanese army approaching, Meilin and her four-year-old son, Renshu, are forced to flee their home. Relying on little but their wits and a beautifully illustrated hand scroll, they must travel through a ravaged country, seeking refuge. 2022.

Download Peach Blossom Spring, DB 107173

A Place for Us

by Fatima Farheen Mirza

DB 91422, LT 24117, Available as BARD Download

Parents Layla and Rafiq gather their family together for their daughter Hadia’s wedding–including youngest and only son Amar, who has been estranged from the family for three years. Secrets and resentments bubble forth as the reasons for the fracture of the family are revealed. 2018.

Download A Place for Us, DB 91422

The Refugees

by Viet Thanh Nguyen

DB 88948, BR 21968, LT 22279, Available as BARD Download

Collection of eight short stories from Pulitzer Prize winner. Set in both Vietnam and America, the stories explore immigration and the resulting issues with identity, loyalties, romantic relationships, and family. In “Black-Eyed Women” a writer deals with ghosts of all sorts. Some violence and some descriptions of sex. Bestseller. 2017.

Download The Refugees, DB 88948

Download Braille, The Refugees, BR 21968

The Sun Is Also a Star

by Nicola Yoon

DB 86028, BR 21806, LT 23898, Available as BARD Download

Natasha, a girl of science and facts, and Daniel, a good son and student, meet by chance at the worst possible time, but they believe there is something extraordinary in store for both of them. For senior high and older readers. 2016.

Download The Sun Is Also a Star, DB 86028

Download Braille, The Sun Is Also a Star, BR 21806

These Ghosts Are Family

by Maisy Card

DB 100082, LT 28711, Available as BARD Download

Thirty years after he faked his death, Stanford Solomon–formerly Abel Paisley–decides to tell his family the truth, including the daughter he abandoned all those years ago. Everyone struggles with Stanford’s revelations and reflects on what their lives may have been like if he’d told the truth. 2020.

Download These Ghosts Are Family, DB 100082

Things We Lost to the Water

by Eric Nguyen

DB 103474, Available as BARD Download

When Huong arrives in New Orleans with her two young sons, she is jobless, homeless, and worried about her husband back in Vietnam. As she comes to realize that her husband is not going to join them, her sons forge their own paths. 2021.

Download Things We Lost to the Water, DB 103474

We Need New Names

by NoViolet Bulawayo

DB 78211, Available as BARD Download

Ten-year-old Darling Nkala is sent to Michigan to escape the violence and hunger in Zimbabwe. Over the years Darling attends school and struggles to adjust to the alien culture. But her family are illegal immigrants and they miss their homeland. Violence, strong language, and some descriptions of sex. 2013.

Download We Need New Names, DB 78211

A Woman Is No Man

by Etaf Rum

DB 95201, Available as BARD Download

Palestine, 1990. All seventeen-year-old Isra wants to do is hide away and read instead of entertaining potential suitors. But in the course of one week, she finds herself betrothed, married, and moving to Brooklyn. Eighteen years later, her daughter Deya butts heads with her grandmother over suitors. 2019.

Download A Woman Is No Man, DB 95201

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