Coming to America: The Story of Immigration

This courageous, and honest effort by Ms. Maestro was a wonderful discovery! An even-handed and truthful presentation of the story of immigration, involuntary migration, and injustice visited upon indigenous peoples: this book surprised me, especially for one whose audience is the younger set of children. Kudos to Ms. Maestro, her editor(s), and publishing house for bravely putting out this book. From the first acknowledgement of those persons who crossed the Bering Strait and came to what came to be called the North American continent, the book challenges one's assumptions re: how this (hi)story happened. It is beautifully illustrated and a quick read. Pay close attention to the end notes and other miscellany after the primary text. show more More treats/surprises are in store. Well worth the short sojourn! show less

This was a really great story for teaching children about immigration. The author didn't show any kind of bias or prejudice toward any culture which allows the readers to get a full picture of what immigration is like. I also liked how the story had a lot of big and colorful illustrations along with the text. This was the readers got a visual picture of what the text was trying to teach them about. The only thing I did not like was the lack of historical facts. There was a lot of information about the different cultures and what the immigration process is like, but there were not a lot of facts actually included which would have been nice.

Books with diversity are one of my favorites especially since I have always been surrounded my different ethnicities my entire life. This book introduced Native Americans who were the first to settle in this land and goes on to show how other people such as Europeans and African Americans and shows the importance that each and everyone of them have contributed to the country. I loved this book because it provided great information if I were to do a social studies project in class.

This book is a wonderful story- especially on Christopher Columbus day. This book discredits Columbus and explains how he harmed indigenous people. Along with this, it also explains how we are all immigrants in American so therefore we must not be hypocritical of others who are coming her to escape war and hardships. This is a great progressive read aloud for older students.

I would use this in my classroom as a read-aloud to late primary and intermediate education.

This book is a detailed and historical outlook of American immigration. It starts from the first immigrants to America to how immigration was happening when this book was written. It demonstrates the beauty, reasonings, and causes of immigration - the good and the bad. At the end, it describes immigration as a celebration of coming together with our differences and uniqueness!

I would read this aloud in my classroom, and have children share where they come from if they're willing. I could make an activity where they use illustrations of what they know or remember when they were born or little. Both children born in America and outside America show more have a story to tell. show less

This book covers the history of immigration from nomadic settlers to refugees. It teaches about Ellis Island and how immigrants would arrive by boat and go through a screening process. It goes on to talk about how most immigrants now arrive through the airport. The book talks a little about refugees that come here seeking safety. With every thing going on in this country currently I think this book would be a great tool to teach children about immigration and why some people feel that coming here illegally is their only option. It reads like a text book but is very informative. "All Americans are related to immigrants or are immigrants themselves." This is a fact that is so important and I think some Americans seem to forget. It was show more written in 1996 but I think it would be interesting to see what it would have to say if it included what was going on in America with the current administration. show less

Coming to America: The Story of Immigration, starts off with the first initial immigrants of this country; the people that crossed the frozen bridge from Asia to Alaska and eventually spread out all over North and South America building great civilizations. It talks about how different waves of immigrants came at different times, first came northern Europeans and Scandinavians, then came people from different parts of Europe, and now the majority of immigrants come from Latin America. There’s mention of refugees and the different reasons they may come to America. Finally, there are several pages explaining the process earlier immigrants had to go through when arriving at Ellis Island. The last page of the book includes a table of show more dates and other interesting facts about immigration.

I enjoyed this book because it shows that America is truly a country of immigrants. It depicts the challenges people faced when trying to come to America and the discrimination they endured when arriving. With every new wave of immigrants that came, there was always some form of discrimination and notion that they were not welcomed by everyone. This is a great book to read to young students when discussing any immigration/refugee issues show less