Below are titles we recommend on immigration and the immigrant experience with a focus on the United States. To learn more about immigration and refugees from Central America, see our Central America booklist. See resources for teaching about immigration on the Zinn Education Project website.
Titles that we recommend are featured below with cover images. The ones with reviews are noted with an asterisk (*). Some titles are recommended with a caveat. At the end of this page, we provide a list of titles on this theme, with reviews, that we do not recommend.
Elementary | Middle Grades | YA / Adult Fiction | YA / Adult Nonfiction | Educators | Not Recommended
The Adventure of Guz & Goz / La aventura de Guz & Goz
By Yenner Rengifo Chaverra, Mich Hernandez, and Yurieli Otero-Asmar (Illustrator)
Areli Is a Dreamer: A True Story by Areli Morales, a Daca Recipient *
By Areli Morales and Luisa Uribe (Illustrator)
Between Us and Abuela: A Family Story from the Border *
By Mitali Perkins and Sara Palacios (Illustrator)
The Bicycle: How an Act of Kindness Changed a Young Refugee's Life
By Patricia McCormick, Mevan Babakar, and Yas Imamura (Illustrator)
Different: A Story of the Spanish Civil War
By Mónica Montañés, Eva Sánchez Gómez, (Illustrator), and Lawrence Schimel (Translator)
Eleven Words for Love: A Journey Through Arabic Expressions of Love *
By Randa Abdel-Fattah and Maxine Beneba Clarke (Illustrator)
Fernando's Big Idea / La gran idea de Fernando
By Sol Mundo, Jonathan Lopez, and Hee So (Illustrator)
For All / Para Todos *
By Alejandra Domenzain , Katherine Loh (Illustrator), and Irene Prieto de Coogan (Translator)
A Gift from Papa Diego: Un Regalo de Papa Diego
By Benjamin Alire Saenz, Geronimo Garcia (Illustrator)
Gloriana, Presente: A First Day of School Story
By Alyssa Reynoso-Morris and Doris M. Rodríguez-Graber (Illustrator)
Home Is in Between *
By Mitali Perkins and Lavanya Naidu (Illustrator)
The Home We Make
By Maham Khwaja and Daby Zainab Faidhi (Illustrator)
I'll Be the Moon: A Migrant Child's Story
By Phillip D. Cortez and Mafs Rodríguez Alpide (Illustrator)
Jasmín Pictures Home / Jasmín ilustra su hogar *
By Andy Pina, Antonia Marisol Garcia, Pedro Reyes, Yunior Jose Garcia, and Ian L Springer (Illustrator)
A Journey Toward Hope
By Victor Hinojosa, Coert Voorhees, and Susan Guevara (Illustrator)
Spanish edition: Una Jornada Hacia La Esperanza
Kamal Goes to Trinidad
By Malcolm Frederick, Prodeepta Das (Illustrator)
OUT OF PRINT
La Frontera: El viaje con papa / My Journey with Papa*
By Deborah Mills, Alfredo Alva, Claudia Navarro (Illustrator)
Mama’s Nightingale: A Story of Immigration and Separation*
By Edwidge Danticat, Leslie Staub (Illustrator)
A Map for Falasteen: A Palestinian Child's Search for Home
By Maysa Odeh and Aliaa Betawi (Illustrator)
The Notebook Keeper: A Story of Kindness from the Border *
By Stephen Briseño and Magdalena Mora (Illustrator)
Still Dreaming / Seguimos Soñando
By Claudia Guadalupe Martínez, Magdalena Mora (Illustrator), Luis Humberto Crosthwaite (Translator)
Author Interview
A Thousand White Butterflies
By Jessica Betancourt-Perez, Karen Lynn Williams, and Gina Maldonado (Illustrator)
Un Tren Llamado Esperanza / A Train Called Hope*
By Mario Bencastro and Robert Casilla (Illustrator)
Who Belongs Here? An American Story
By Margy Burns Knight and Anne Sibley O'brien (Illustrator)
See: Teachers Guide
My Ocean
By Enrique Perez Diaz, Trudy Balch (Translator)
OUT OF PRINT
Papers: Stories of Undocumented Youth
Edited by José Manuel, Cesar Pineda, Anne Galisky, and Rebecca Shine
Somos Como Las Nubes / We Are Like the Clouds*
By Jorge Argueta, Alfonso Ruano (Illustrator), Elisa Amado
Tonight, by Sea
By Frances Temple, Tim O'Brien (Illustrator)
OUT OF PRINT
We Are Not From Here
By Jenny Torres Sanchez
A Young People's History of the United States: Revised and Updated
By Howard Zinn, adapted by Rebecca Stefoff, additions by Ed Morales
YA / Adult Fiction
YA / Adult Nonfiction
The Accidental American: Immigration and Citizenship in the Age of Globalization
By Rinku Sen, Fekkak Mamdouh (With)
Border Film Project: Migrant and Minutemen Photos from U.S. - Mexico Border
By Rudy Adler, Victoria Criado, Brett Huneycutt
In the Darkness of the United States
By Peter Orner (Editor), Sandra Hernandez (Editor), Luis Alberto Urrea (Prologue by)
OUT OF PRINT
Migra Mouse: Political Cartoons on Immigration
By Lalo Alcaraz
OUT OF PRINT
The Other Side: Stories of Central American Teen Refugees Who Dream of Crossing the Border
By Juan Pablo Villalobos
Unbuild Walls: Why Immigrant Justice Needs Abolition
By Silky Shah and Amna A. Akbar
Interview with author on Democracy Now!
Educators
Rethinking Globalization: Teaching for Justice in an Unjust World
By Bill Bigelow (Editor), Bob Peterson (Editor)
Teachers as Allies: Transformative Practices for Teaching Dreamers and Undocumented Students
By Shelley Wong (Editor)
Not recommended
- Counting Kindness by Hollis Kurman
- Illegal by Bettina Restrepo
- Juan Pablo and the Butterflies by JJ Flowers
- My Beautiful Birds by Suzanne Del Rizzo
Learn about our criteria for selecting titles at Social Justice Books. Feedback on these lists and suggestions for additional titles are welcome.
Most of the books on these lists are linked for more information or purchase to Bookshop (an indie bookstore platform) and / or Powells.com (an independent, unionized bookstore). A small percentage from book sales through these links goes to Teaching for Change.