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In a New World: The Immigrant and Refugee Experience in YA literature

These YA books tell stories of immigrants and refugees from all across the world seeking a new place to live in the U.S.

Saint Paul Public Library

14 items

  • On the corner of American Street and Joy Road, Fabiola Toussaint thought she would finally find a good life. But after they leave Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Fabiola’s mother is detained by U.S. immigration, leaving Fabiola to navigate her loud American…
    Book, 2017New York, NY : Balzer + Bray, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, [2017] — FICTION (TEEN) Zoboi, Ibi
  • When her parents make the dangerous and illegal trek across the Mexican border in pursuit of the American dream, Reyna and her siblings are forced to live with their stern grandmother. But when things don’t go quite as planned, Reyna finds herself…
    Book, 2016New York ; London ; Toronto : Aladdin, [2016]
  • American-born seventeen-year-old Maya Aziz is torn between worlds. There’s the proper one her parents expect for their good Indian daughter and then there is the world of her dreams: going to film school and living in New York City—and maybe (just…
    Book, 2018New York, NY : Soho Teen, [2018] — FICTION (TEEN) Ahmed, Samira
  • After the local gang kills his cousin, Jaime and his cousin Ángela are targeted as the next recruits. Their families send them north to try to make a crossing to the United States where Jaime’s older brother is living. The two endure multiple…
    Book, 2016New York : Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, [2016] — FICTION (JUV) Diaz, Alexandra
  • This free-verse novel follows Viola a Sudanese refugee’s journey from her home in ravaged Sudan to Cairo and finally to the Sudanese community in Maine. She is forever haunted by harrowing memories of she’s lost as she tries to build a new life.
    Book, 2012New York : Marshall Cavendish, 2012. — FICTION (TEEN) Farish, Terry
  • This Land Is Our Land

    the History of American Immigration

    Osborne, Linda Barrett, 1949-
    A non-fiction title that explores the evolution and history of governmental policy around immigration and how it is often driven by popular responses to feelings on race and ethnicity, economic conditions, and fear of foreign political concerns.
    Book, 2016New York, NY : Abrams Books for Young Readers, 2016. — E184.A1 O83 2016 (JUV)
  • Jasmine de los Santos has always done what’s expected of her. Pretty and popular, she’s studied hard and made her Filipino immigrant parents proud. And then everything shatters. A national scholar award invitation compels her parents to reveal the…
    Book, 2016Don Mills, Ontario, Canada : Seventeen Fiction from Harlequin Teen, [2016] — FICTION (TEEN) De la Cruz, Melissa
  • Denied, Detained, Deported

    Stories From the Dark Side of American Immigration

    Bausum, Ann
    With painstaking research, an unerring eye for just the right illustration, and her unique narrative style, award-winning author Ann Bausum makes the history of immigration in America come alive for young people.
    Book, 2009Washington, D.C. : National Geographic, c2009. — JV6483 .B38 2009 (JUV)
  • Told in alternating first person points of view, The Radius of Us is a story of love, sacrifice, and the journey from victim to survivor. It offers an intimate glimpse into the causes and devastating impact of Latino gang violence, both in the U.S.…
    Book, 2017New York : St. Martin's Griffin, 2017. — FICTION (TEEN) Marquardt, Marie F
  • The Unwanted

    the Story of the Syrian Refugees

    Brown, Don, 1949-
    Don Brown depicts moments of both heartbreaking horror and hope in the ongoing Syrian refugee crisis. Shining a light on the stories of the survivors, The Unwanted is a testament to the courage and resilience of the refugees and a call to action for…
    Book, 2018Boston : Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, [2018] — DS98.6 .B76 2018 (GRAPHIC) (TEEN)
  • A heartwrenching, and at times difficult to read, account of a Mexican immigrant family living in the U.S. It painfully chronicles the many ways families suffer to immigrate, struggle to hold on to old traditions and embrace the new, and the extreme…
    Book, 2017New York, NY : Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers, 2017. — FICTION (TEEN) Sánchez, Erika L
  • This family saga follows five girls across three generations and explores the inheritance of culture. Rane is worried that her children are losing their Indian culture; Sonia is wrapped up in a forbidden biracial love affair; Tara is seeking the…
    Book, 2017New York : Farrar Straus Giroux, 2017. — FICTION (TEEN) Perkins, Mitali
  • The day before Natasha and her family are set to be deported to Jamaica, she meets Korean-American Daniel. Over the course of one day, these two learn about each other and each other's unique experience as an immigrant or as the child of immigrants.
    Book, 2016New York : Delacorte Press, [2016] — FICTION (TEEN) Yoon, Nicola
  • A book about the Vietnamese refuge experience - this novel blends comedy and tragedy in a moving story about refugees, siblings, and youthful dreams.
    Book, 2019New York, NY : Harper, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers, [2019] — FICTION (TEEN) Lai, Thanhha