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 also resources for teaching about immigration on the Zinn Education Project website and the Rethinking Schools blog.

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

Alfredito Flies Home *

By Jorge Argueta, Luis Garay (Illustrator)

Amigos del Otro Lado / Friends From The Other Side

By Gloria E. Anzaldua

The Arabic Quilt: An Immigrant Story

By Aya Khalil and Anait Semirdzhyan (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)

Brothers in Hope

By Mary Williams, R. Gregory Christie (Illustrator)

Calling the Water Drum

By LaTisha Redding, Aaron Boyd (Illustrator)

Coming to America: A Muslim Family's Story

By Bernard Wolf, Wolf Bernard (Photographer)

Diarou's Not So Different

By Diarou Bayo, Riley Campbell, Anthony Cooke, Alex Perkins (Illustrator)

Different: A Story of the Spanish Civil War

By Mónica Montañés, Eva Sánchez Gómez, (Illustrator), and Lawrence Schimel (Translator)

Dreamers*

By Yuyi Morales

For All / Para Todos *

By Alejandra Domenzain , Katherine Loh (Illustrator), and Irene Prieto de Coogan (Translator)

From Far Away

By Robert Munsch, Saoussan Askar, Rebecca Green (Illustrator)

From North to South / Del Norte al Sur

By René Colato Laínez

A Gift from Papa Diego: Un Regalo de Papa Diego

By Benjamin Alire Saenz, Geronimo Garcia (Illustrator)

Going Home

By Eve Bunting, David Diaz (Illustrator)

Hiromi's Hands

By Lynne Barasch

Home at Last

By Susan Middleton Elya, Felipe Davalos (Illustrator)

Home Is in Between *

By Mitali Perkins and Lavanya Naidu (Illustrator)

I Dream of Popo

By Livia Blackburne and Julia Kuo (Illustrator)

I Hate English!

By Ellen Levine, Steve Bjorkman

Islandborn*

By Junot Diaz, Leo Espinosa (Illustrator)

Jasmín Pictures Home / Jasmín ilustra su hogar *

By Andy Pina, Antonia Marisol Garcia, Pedro Reyes, Yunior Jose Garcia, and Ian L Springer (Illustrator)

Una Jornada Hacia La Esperanza: A Journey Toward Hope, Spanish Edition

By Victor Hinojosa,  Coert Voorhees, and Susan Guevara (Illustrator)

Joseph's Big Ride

By Terry Farish

A Journey Toward Hope

By Victor Hinojosa,  Coert Voorhees, and Susan Guevara (Illustrator)

Kamal Goes to Trinidad

By Malcolm Frederick, Prodeepta Das (Illustrator)

Landed

By Milly Lee, Yangsook Choi (Illustrator)

La Frontera: El viaje con papa / My Journey with Papa*

By Deborah Mills, Alfredo Alva, Claudia Navarro (Illustrator)

Let's Go See Papa

By Lawrence Schimel, Alba Marina Rivera (Illustrator)

The Little Doctor / El Doctorcito

By Juan J. Guerra

La Luna Mango

By Diane de Anda

Malaika's Costume

By Nadia L. Hohn, Irene Luxbacher (Illustrator)

Mama’s Nightingale: A Story of Immigration and Separation*

By Edwidge Danticat, Leslie Staub (Illustrator)

Mango, Abuela, and Me *

By Meg Medina, Angela Dominguez (Illustrator)

Mango Moon

By Diane de Anda

Mariana and Her Familia

By Mónica Mancillas and Erika Meza (Illustrator)

Marwan's Journey

By Patricia de Arias, Laura Borràs (Illustrator)

A Movie in My Pillow / Una Pelicula En Mi Almohada*

By Jorge Argueta, Elizabeth Gomez (Illustrator)

My Name Is Yoon

By Helen Recorvits, Gabi Swiatkowska (Illustrator)

My Shoes and I*

By Rene Colato Lainez

My Strange Shrinking Parents *

By Zeno Sworder

My Two Border Towns

By David Bowles and  Erika Meza (Illustrator)

The Name Jar

By Yangsook Choi

Nana's Cold Days

By Adwoa Badoe, Bushra Junaid (Illustrator)

The Notebook Keeper: A Story of Kindness from the Border *

By Stephen Briseño and Magdalena Mora (Illustrator)

Pancho Rabbit and the Coyote: A Migrant's Tale*

By Duncan Tonatiuh

Salma the Syrian Chef*

By Reem Faruqi and Fahmida Azim (Illustrator)

Shanghai Messenger

By Andrea Cheng, Ed Young (Illustrator)

Singing with Elephants

By Margarita Engle

Sleeping with the Light on *

By David Unger

Stepping Stones: A Refugee Family's Journey*

By Margriet Ruurs

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)

The Turtle of Oman

By Naomi Shihab Nye

Undocumented: A Worker's Fight

By Duncan Tonatiuh

Where Three Oceans Meet *

By Rajani Larocca and Archana Sreenivasan (Illustrator)

Dos Conejos Blancos / Two White Rabbits *

By Jairo Buitrago

Who Belongs Here?: An American Story

By Margy Burns Knight, Clarita Kohen (Translator)

Xochitl And The Flowers / Xochitl, la Nina de las Flores

By Jorge Argueta, Carl Angel (Illustrator)

Angel Island: Gateway to Gold Mountain

By Russell Freedman

Behind the Mountains

By Edwidge Danticat

Boy, Everywhere *

By A. M. Dassu

A Boy from Ireland

By Marie Raphael

Caravan to the North: Misael's Long Walk*

By Jorge Argueta

Crossing the Wire

By Will Hobbs

A Different Mirror for Young People: A History of Multicultural America

By Ronald T. Takaki

The Distance Between Us: Young Readers Edition *

By Reyna Grande

Emilio

By Julia Mercedes Castilla

Enchanted Air: Two Cultures, Two Wings: A Memoir *

By Margarita Engle, Edel Rodriguez (Illustrator)

Enrique's Journey: The True Story of a Boy Determined to Reunite with His Mother*

By Sonia Nazario

Finally Seen

By  Kelly Yang

Front Desk*

By Kelly Yang

Harbor Me

By Jacqueline Woodson

How Tia Lola Saved the Summer

By Julia Alvarez

Journey of the Sparrows

By Fran Leeper Buss, Daisy Cubias

Journey of Dreams

By Marge Pellegrino

Kids Like Me: Voices of the Immigrant Experience

By Judith M. Blohm, Terri Lapinsky

La Linea *

By Ann Jaramillo

Land of the Cranes

By Aida Salazar

Manuelito

By Elisa Amado

Moving North: Caribbean Connections

By Keith Warner, Catherine Sunshine

My Ocean

By Enrique Perez Diaz, Trudy Balch (Translator)

The Only Road*

By Alexandra Diaz

The Other Side of the River

By Alda P. Dobbs

Other Words for Home *

By Jasmine Warga

Papers: Stories of Undocumented Youth

Edited by José Manuel, Cesar Pineda, Anne Galisky, and Rebecca Shine

Return to Sender*

By Julia Alvarez

Save Me a Seat*

By Sarah Weeks and Gita Varadarajan 

Singing with Elephants

By Margarita Engle

Somos Como Las Nubes / We Are Like the Clouds*

By Jorge Argueta, Alfonso Ruano (Illustrator), Elisa Amado

Sugar *

By Jewell Parker Rhodes

This Land Is Our Land: A History of American Immigration

By Linda Barret Osborne

Tonight, by Sea

By Frances Temple, Tim O'brien (Illustrator)

Voces Sin Fronteras: Our Stories, Our Truth

By the Latino Youth Leadership Council of LAYC

We Are Not From Here

By Jenny Torres Sanchez

The Year I Flew Away

By Marie Arnold

A Young People's History of the United States: Revised and Updated

By Howard Zinn, adapted by Rebecca Stefoff, additions by Ed Morales

Across a Hundred Mountains

By Reyna Grande

Anna In-Between

By Elizabeth Nunez

Breath, Eyes, Memory

By Edwidge Danticat

Brown Girl, Brownstones

By Paule Marshall

Brick Lane

By Monica Ali

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao

By Junot Diaz

The Complete Persepolis

By Marjane Satrapi

Do They Know I'm Running?

By David Corbett

First Crossing: Stories about Teen Immigrants

By Donald R. Gallo (Editor)

Home Is Not a Country *

By Safia Elhillo

How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents

By Julia Alvarez

Ink Knows No Borders

Edited by Patrice Vecchione, Alyssa Raymond

The Knife and the Butterfly*

By Ashley Hope Perez

Love Hate & Other Filters*

By Samira Ahmed

Mother Tongue

By Demetria Martinez

The Radius of Us *

By Marie Marquardt

SanTana's Fairy Tales*

By Sarah Rafael Garcia

Zeitoun

By Dave Eggers

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

Borderlands / La Frontera: The New Mestiza, Fourth Edition

By Gloria Anzaldua

Brown Album: Essays on Exile and Identity

By Porochista Khakpour

Children of War: Voices of Iraqi Refugees

By Deborah Ellis

The Dispossessed: A Story of Asylum and the US-Mexican Border and Beyond

By John Washington

The Distance Between Us

By Reyna Grande

Harvest of Empire: A History of Latinos in America (Second Revised and Updated Edition)

By Juan Gonzalez

Hunting Season: Immigration and Murder in an All-American Town

By Mirta Ojito

In the Darkness of the United States

By Peter Orner (Editor), Sandra Hernandez (Editor), Luis Alberto Urrea (Prologue by)

Kids Like Me: Voices of the Immigrant Experience

By Judith M. Blohm, Terri Lapinsky

Living Beyond Borders: Growing Up Mexican in America

By Margarita Longoria

Migra Mouse: Political Cartoons on Immigration

By Lalo Alcaraz

The Other Side: Stories of Central American Teen Refugees Who Dream of Crossing the Border

By Juan Pablo Villalobos

Refugee High: Coming of Age in America

By Elly Fishman

The Right to Stay Home: How US Policy Drives Mexican Migration

By David Bacon

Solito: A Memoir

By Javier Zamora
Also available in Spanish: Solito

They Take Our Jobs!: And 20 Other Myths about Immigration

By Aviva Chomsky

Underground America: Narratives of Undocumented Lives

By Peter Orner (Editor)

Un Dia Sin Immigranes, 15 Voces Y Una Causa

By Gina Montaner

We Are All Suspects Now: Untold Stories from Immigrant Communities After 9/11

By Tram Nguyen

Working Toward Whiteness: How America's Immigrants Became White

By David R. Roediger

The Line Between Us: Teaching about the Border and Mexican Immigration

By Bill Bigelow

Made in America: Immigrant Students in Our Public Schools

By Laurie Olsen

Rethinking Globalization: Teaching for Justice in an Unjust World

By Bill Bigelow (Editor), Bob Peterson (Editor)

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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

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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.

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