Petra and her family have escaped and can begin again in America, in this country that promises so much. She leads her family from a smallpox-stricken refugee camp on the Texas border to the buzzing city of San Antonio and for the first time ever, Petra has a chance to learn to read and write.Yet Petra also sees attitudes she thought she’d left behind—people who look down on her mestizo skin and bare feet. Petra wants more. Her strength and courage will be tested like never before as she fights for herself, her family, and her dreams. It can be especially difficult for those of us who have never had to learn to call a new country our home to envision the implications of immigration. Middle grade literature nurtures our empathetic side and brings us face to face with an issue that has been plaguing our planet for a long time: from religious discrimination to blatant xenophobia, immigrant children often become victims of prejudice and racism. Leaving one’s country of birth is hard enough. If bigotry is added to the mix, the suffering of these kids increases manifold. While middle grade literature definitely can’t alleviate their woes, it does an excellent job at making readers rethink our individual choices, re-evaluate the barometers that make us mark someone as “alien,” and understand all the ways in which the personal is political. For a teen-friendly introduction to immigrant literature, please check out this list of YA books. And if the world is too heavy for the children in your life right now and they need a break, I suggest you pick up something for them from this piece on hopeful books for kids!
