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
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)
Different: A Story of the Spanish Civil War
By Mónica Montañés, Eva Sánchez Gómez, (Illustrator), and Lawrence Schimel (Translator)
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)
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)
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)
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)
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
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
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)
The Other Side: Stories of Central American Teen Refugees Who Dream of Crossing the Border
By Juan Pablo Villalobos
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.