America, My New Home

November 15, 2004
Gr. 2-5. Gunning, who left the Caribbean at 18 and became a U.S. citizen in the 1950s, writes about a contemporary immigrant child "far from my Jamaica sea foam" with "waves of people" in her new home. The simple poems and Condon's bright, upbeat urban scenes clearly show that the child does miss home, where "People rode their horses or mules / had time to say hello." Now no one knows or calls her name, and she feels confused on the crowded sidewalk as people talk on their cell phones and rush for the trains ("Why such a hurry?"). The honesty about what she has lost reinforces the strongly upbeat story of the newcomer finding the riches of the library, the symphony, and the circus--and the wonder of snow. Use this with Barbara Shook Hazen's " Katie's Wish" (2002) and with other picture books about coming to America, long ago and now.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2004, American Library Association.)