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Books can transform, transport and inspire. Whether you’re a teacher trying to expand your classroom library, a parent looking to introduce their child to diverse perspectives or an adult who just wants a rich, interesting novel to read, you are bound to find something on this list that’s for you.
We’ve curated this list of books that are good reads and represent many facets of the immigrant experience, with an emphasis on books by authors who are immigrants themselves. We’ve also divided our selections by age groups, into picture books, elementary and middle grade books, young adult books and books for adults.
If you’re more interested in finding a TV show, film or documentary, check out our collection of recommendations here. We hope you find something transformational, transporting or inspirational below!
Jump to: Picture | Elementary and Middle Grade | Young Adult | Adult
Picture Books:
A Different Pond
by Bao Phi and Thi Bui
Prose | Fiction
Caldecott-winning A Different Pond follows a Vietnamese father and son who go fishing for a day. It’s a simple, relatable premise that the author uses to explore cultural differences and connections within the family. The author emphasizes the affirming connection between father and son while still gently acknowledging the challenges both face.
All the Way to America: The Story of a Big Italian Family and a Little Shovel
by Dan Yaccarino
Prose | Fiction
All the Way to America follows a simple shovel as it’s passed down through many generations of an Italian American family. Each generation finds a new use for the tool, tracing the evolution of their immigration journey. The book is a wholesome embrace of a family tradition.
The Day You Begin
Written by Jacqueline Woodson and illustrated by Rafael Lopez
Prose | Fiction
There are many reasons to feel different. Maybe it’s how you look or talk, or where you’re from; maybe it’s what you eat, or something just as random. Jacqueline Woodson’s lyrical text and Rafael López’s dazzling art remind us that we all feel like outsiders sometimes and how brave it is that we go forth anyway. And that sometimes, when we reach out and begin to share our stories, others will be happy to meet us halfway.
View our Community Across Cultures Read-Aloud Book Guide for The Day You Begin.
Dreamers
by Yuyi Morales
Prose | Nonfiction | Autobiography
Dreamers is a great story for reluctant readers. The book beautifully depicts how Morales and her son see a world of opportunities appear for them when they find a library near their new home. The story is told from the mother’s perspective but is still accessible to a child.
Dumpling Dreams: How Joyce Chen Brought the Dumpling from Beijing to Cambridge
by Carrie Clickard and Katy Wu
Poetry | Nonfiction
This charming picture book introduces young readers to an under-appreciated immigrant entrepreneur and chef, Joyce Chen. The story follows Chen as she comes to the United States and adapts her beloved Chinese recipes for her new circumstances, bringing fresh flavors and foods to her new community. Poetry brings a lyricism to the tale.
Gibberish
by Young Vo
Prose | Fiction
It’s Dat’s first day of school in a new country! Dat and his Mah made a long journey to get here, and Dat doesn’t know the language. To Dat, everything everybody says, from the school bus driver to his new classmates, sounds like gibberish. How is Dat going to make new friends if they can’t understand each other? Luckily, there’s a friendly girl in Dat’s class who knows that there are other ways to communicate, besides just talking.
View the Community Across Cultures Read-Aloud Book Guide for Gibberish.
Here I Am
Written by Patti Kim and illustrated by Sonia Sanchez
Wordless | Fiction
Newly arrived from their faraway homeland, a boy and his family enter into the lights, noise and traffic of a busy American city. The language is unfamiliar. Food, habits, games and gestures are puzzling. How will he once again become the happy, confident kid he used to be? Walk in his shoes as he takes the first tentative steps toward discovering joy in his new world.
View the Community Across Cultures Read-Aloud Book Guide for Here I Am .
The Keeping Quilt
by Patricia Polacco
Prose | Fiction
Beloved children’s book author Patricia Polacco tells her own family’s immigration story in this picture book. After immigrating to the United States, Great Grandma Anna turns her dress and babushka into a quilt in order to hold onto her heritage. The quilt gets passed down through the generations to the author, who discovers and shares the heirloom’s story.
Lailah’s Lunchbox: A Ramadan Story
by Reem Faruqi and Lea Lyon
Prose | Fiction
Faruqi based this book on her own childhood experiences navigating Ramadan as a new immigrant to the United States from India. Lailah is fasting for Ramadan for the first time, but she doesn’t know how to explain it to her friends or avoid food in the cafeteria. She learns that adults can be more helpful and peers can be more accepting than Lailah expects.
The Little Black Fish
by Samad Behrangi
Prose | Fiction
This picture book has the distinction of being banned for more than 20 years in Iran for its pro-immigration messages. It’s also one of the few translated picture books to achieve widespread recognition. Told through allegory, The Little Black Fish follows a fish who dares to literally swim against the current to explore a wider world.
Mango, Abuela, and Me
by Meg Medina and Angela Dominguez
Prose | Fiction
This story flips the usual angle on the immigrant language barrier, exploring the perspective of a child who already speaks English and wants to reach out to someone who doesn’t. Mia wants to talk to her recently immigrated abuela (Spanish for grandmother), but her abuela is still learning English.
My Diary from Here to There/Mi diario de aqui hasta alla
by Amada Irma Perez and Maya Christina Gonzalez
Prose | Fiction
Perez uses a diary as a framing device, following a child who shares the hopes and fears of her journey to the United States. My Diary from Here to There/Mi diario de aqui hasta alla is bilingual, making it a strong choice for empowering Spanish-speaking students and widening the viewpoints of students who only speak English.
My Name Is Sangoel
by Karen Lynn Williams, Khadra Mohammed and Catherine Stock
Prose | Fiction
My Name Is Sangoel follows a Sudanese war refugee child as he adapts to a new life in the United States. Young Sangoel is proud of his name but struggles to get his classmates to pronounce it correctly. The story can gently introduce children to the concept of refugees while steering clear of any heavy, explicit discussions of violence or conflict.
Name Jar
by Yangsook Choi
Prose | Fiction
In this sweet book by a Korean immigrant, a Korean child wrestles with her “foreign” name in a United States classroom. Her well-meaning classmates encourage her to pick a new name, prompting a journey toward self-acceptance and embracing her culture.
View our Community Across Cultures Read-Aloud Book Guide for The Name Jar.
A Shelter in Our Car
by Monica Gunning
Prose | Fiction
The close, supportive bond between mother and daughter makes this story of a pair of immigrants fighting homelessness less heavy for young readers. Jamaican American Zettie and her mother come to the U.S. for a better life after the passing of Zettie’s father, but Zettie soon faces bullying for living in a car. The ending reassures readers that the love of her mother and possibility of a bright future will see the pair through their struggles.
Thank You, Omu!
by Oge Mora
Prose | Fiction
Everyone in the neighborhood dreams of a taste of Omu’s delicious stew! One by one, they follow their noses toward the scrumptious scent. And one by one, Omu offers a portion of her meal. Soon the pot is empty. Has she been so generous that she has nothing left for herself?
View our Community Across Cultures Read-Aloud Book Guide for Thank You, Omu!
Two White Rabbits
by Jairo Buitrago and Rafael Yockteng
Prose | Fiction
Two White Rabbits follows a father and daughter making a perilous journey to the United States. It offers a child’s eye view of the difficult events, softening the subject matter. More advanced readers may pick up on symbolism in the things the daughter spots on her journey.
Watercress
by Andrea Wang and Jason Chin
Poetry | Fiction
Wang drew on her own immigrant experience to pen this story of a Chinese American girl who is embarrassed to gather watercress from a ditch for dinner, until a story from her mother sheds a new light on the meal. Written in free verse poetry with a more complex syntax than most picture books, this story might be more suitable for more advanced picture book readers.
Elementary and Middle Grade Books:
90 Miles to Havana
by Enrique Flores-Galbis
Prose | Fiction
Flores-Galbis highlights a little-known chapter of immigration history in 90 Miles to Havana. Cuban-born Julian is sent to the United States by his parents as part of the “Operation Pedro Pan” that brought thousands of unaccompanied Cuban minors to the United States.
Enrique’s Journey
by Sonia Nazario
Prose | Nonfiction
When journalist Sonia Nazario met Enrique, an undocumented immigrant teen, she was stunned by his story of immigrating to the United States alone. He braved dangerous conditions on the trip in order to reunite with his mother, who had immigrated when he was just a child. Penguin Random House has created a teacher’s guide to Enrique’s Journey.
Esperanza Rising
by Pam Muñoz Ryan
Prose | Fiction
Ryan touches on migrant labor, the Great Depression and the Mexican Repatriation Act without ever making this story too challenging for young readers. Esperanza and her family are forced to flee Mexico after her father is murdered and she has to learn how to start over as a farm laborer in California.
Front Desk
by Kelly Yang
Prose | Fiction
Many immigrant children may be able to relate to the story of Mia Tang, who helps with her immigrant family’s business after school. In addition to minding the front desk at the family motel, Mia dreams of being a writer and worries about the immigrants her parents hide in the motel rooms. This book earned the 2018 Asian Pacific American Award for Literature. For a book about immigration for teens, check out Yang’s YA novel Parachutes in our Young Adult section below.
Grandfather’s Journey
by Allen Say
Prose | Fiction
This Caldecott-winning book tells the true story of the author’s grandfather. Grandfather’s Journey bucks convention by giving its main character, a Japanese immigrant, wanderlust and a yearning to return to Japan. This story could introduce children to a more complicated immigrant narrative.
Hedy’s Journey: The True Story of a Hungarian Girl Fleeing the Holocaust
by Michelle Bisson
Prose | Nonfiction
Bisson uses illustrations to illuminate the true story of her mother’s flight from Nazi forces to the United States. The story follows young Hedy as she is separated from her family and forced to travel separately, offering an age-appropriate introduction to the trials and dangers facing Jewish refugees of the time.
Inside Out & Back Again
by Thanhha Lai
Poetry | Fiction
Lai fictionalizes her own childhood as a Vietnamese immigrant to the southern United States to create this novel in free verse. Her poignant depiction of a Vietnamese girl growing up in the South won her a Newbery Honor and National Book Award.
Kiki and Jacques
by Susan Ross
Prose | Fiction
The unlikely friendship between a Franco American boy and a Somali American refugee girl takes center stage in Kiki and Jacques. Jacques is initially resistant to the influx of Somali refugees who change the routines of his small town, but his friendship and decency eventually turn him into a good role model for acceptance and inclusion. This story is great for learning about adapting to new community members. Readers looking to learn more about Somali migration specifically might benefit from further reading.
My Chinatown
by Kam Mak
Poetry | Fiction
Mak wrote and illustrated this collection of poetry, based on his own childhood spent in Chinatown. This book is a great option for introducing elementary school kids to both poetry and the immigrant experience.
My Family Divided
by Diane Guerrero
Prose | Nonfiction | Autobiography
Diane Guerrero, best known for her roles on Orange Is the New Black and Jane the Virgin, turned her successful acting career into a platform to speak about immigration reform. She draws on her own experience as the daughter of two undocumented immigrants who were deported when Guerrero was just 14 years old. My Family Divided is a child-friendly version of her memoir, In the Country We Love: My Family Divided (see Books for Adults, below).
One Good Thing About America
by Ruth Freeman
Prose | Fiction
The story is structured by nine-year-old Anaïs’ letters to her grandmother about “one good thing” she discovers about her new home in the United States. Many American customs and expressions become fresh and funny through her eyes. Freeman balances Anaïs’s longing for her old country with her growing excitement about her new community.
The Orphan of Ellis Island: A Time Travel Adventure
by Elvira Woodruff
Prose | Fiction
Woodruff takes the idea of transporting her readers into another world seriously. The story centers on a contemporary U.S.-born child who is magically sent back in time to join a group of boys travelling through Ellis Island. This book works as a good introduction to early 20th century European migration.
Sea Prayer
by Khaled Hosseini
Prose | Fiction
Hosseini is best known for his books on the Afghani and Afghan American experience for adults (see The Kite Runner in the Books for Adults section), but he was inspired to write an illustrated book that would be accessible to children after the tragic drowning of Syrian refugee Alan Kurdi in 2015. The story is written as a letter from a father to a son, focused on their shared hopes for the future.
When Stars Are Scattered
by Omar Mohamed and Victoria Jamieson
Prose | Nonfiction | Autobiography
Jamieson tells Mohamed’s story of caring for his little brother in a Somali refugee camp with vivid, colorful illustrations. Telling the story visually could help young people imagine themselves in Mohamed’s shoes.
Young Adult Books:
American Street
by Ibi Zoboi
Prose | Fiction
In American Street, Fabiola has to adapt to life in the United States alone after her mother is deported to their country of origin, Haiti. Her solitude compounds the struggles of being a new immigrant and a teenager. American Street highlights immigrant resilience.
Americanized: Rebel Without a Green Card
by Sara Saedi
Prose | Nonfiction | Autobiography
Discovering their lack of documentation in their teens is a depressingly common and devastating experience for undocumented young people. Saedi shares how this struggle played out in her tight-knit family of Iranian refugees.
The Book of Unknown Americans
by Cristina Henríquez
Prose | Fiction
This sweet teen love story is complicated and given depth by the main characters’ immigrant backgrounds. The Book of Unknown Americans explores the differences between the experiences of Mayor Toro, a Panamanian American with long term residency in the United States, and Maribel, a newly arrived Mexican American girl grappling with language and cultural barriers.
Denied, Detained, Deported: The Dark Side of American Immigration
by Ann Bausum
Prose | Nonfiction
For teens who are interested in learning the history of immigration, this sweeping nonfiction exploration of immigration to the U.S. could be a great entry point. Bausum uses illustrations to enliven the subject matter.
The Good Braider
by Terry Farish
Poetry | Fiction
Farish uses free voice poetry to tell the story of Viola, the teen daughter of a family of Sudanese refugees. Her close-knit community of Sudanese Americans in the United States is both supportive and stifling, a conflict that many young people, both foreign-born and U.S.-born, might relate to.
A Long Walk to Water
by Linda Sue Park
Prose | Fiction
Park bases this novel closely on the real-life experiences of Salva Dat, one of the “Lost Boys” of Sudan displaced by the Sudanese Civil War. By following both Dat, who finds refuge in the U.S., and Nya, a girl who remains in Sudan and spends hours every day retrieving water, Park provides a holistic look at this recent chapter of history. The book also highlights Dat’s real life not-for-profit that builds wells in Sudan, giving both the characters and readers agency and the ability to take action.
Outcasts United: The Story of a Refugee Soccer Team That Changed a Town
by Warren St. John
Prose | Nonfiction
This is a great option for young adults interested in a nonfiction immigration narrative. Clarkston, Georgia, made headlines for resettling a large number of refugees from all over the world, some of whom formed a soccer team called the Fugees. Outcasts United follows them and their coach as they adapt to their new lives.
Parachutes
by Kelly Yang
Prose | Fiction
Claire Wang is a “parachute” kid, a teenager sent from China to the United States to stay with a host family and gain an American education. Parachutes follows her and her new host-sister as they manage cross-cultural conflict alongside the normal turmoil of a high school year. The story also deals with sexual violence and harassment, so it might be more suitable for older and more mature readers. For a book by Yang for children, see Front Desk in our Elementary and Middle Grade Books section above.
Persepolis
by Marjane Satrapi
Prose | Nonfiction | Autobiography
While it grapples with complicated themes of sexuality and life under an oppressive regime, the graphic novel format makes this memoir a short, accessible read. Satrapi recounts her adolescence in turbulent Iran and the eventual freedoms and challenges of reaching the United States. The novel was adapted into an Academy Award-winning film, which you can learn more about in our blog post What to Watch: 43 Films, TV Series and Documentaries Featuring Immigrants.
Something in Between
by Melissa de la Cruz
Prose | Fiction
Immigrant author Melissa de la Cruz explores the experiences of undocumented teens in Something in Between. The revelation that overachieving Filipino teenager Jasmine de los Santos’ family is undocumented sends Jasmine spiraling. Many teens might relate to her struggle to figure out her future as her plans are upended.
The Sun is Also a Star
by Nicola Yoon
Prose | Fiction
New York Times-bestselling author Nicola Yoon writes the story of Natasha Kingsley, who meets a boy and starts to fall in love with him a day before she’s scheduled to be deported to Jamaica. The book follows the two teens over a single, meaningful day. To learn more about the movie adaptation, check out our list of films and TV shows about immigration.
This Land is Our Land
by Linda Barrett Osborne
Prose | Nonfiction
Osborne organizes her history of immigration to the United States into waves of immigrants, making it an excellent resource for highlighting parallels in the immigrant experience through time. Using illustrations and language accessible to younger readers, she gives an excellent broad perspective on the topic through its 2016 publication date.
We Are Displaced
by Malala Yousafza
Prose | Nonfiction | Autobiography
Most readers will be already familiar with the story of Malala Yousafzai’s fight for girls’ education, but the first half of this book highlights the less famous story of her family’s displacement by war when Malala was a child. The second half of the book shares the stories of other internally displaced and refugee girls. We Are Displaced offers more insight into the life of an extraordinary woman, and an introduction to lesser-known conflicts and refugee experiences around the world.
We Are Here to Stay: Voices of Undocumented Young Adults
by Susan Kuklin
Prose | Nonfiction | Autobiography
Anonymous young writers share their stories of being undocumented. The collection includes people from a variety of countries, including Korea, Colombia and Ghana. These stories can reflect the experiences of undocumented teens or build empathy in citizen and authorized immigrant teens alike.
Welcome to the New World
by Jake Halpern and Michael Sloan
Prose | Nonfiction
Jake Halpern met the Aldabaan family after they fled Syria and came to the United States as refugees. He visited and interviewed the family for years, chronicling their refugee story in a New York Times comics series in collaboration with illustrator Michael Sloan, which they later expanded into the book Welcome to the New World. The ILC has created a free curriculum based on the novel for Social Studies and English teachers of grades seven through 11. Explore it here.
Books for Adults:
Barefoot Heart: Stories of a Migrant Child
by Elva Treviño Hart
Prose | Nonfiction | Autobiography
Hart recounts her childhood as a migrant farmworker. She includes form-breaking elements, featuring poetry and a newspaper article alongside a more conventional memoir narrative.
The Best We Could Do
by Thi Bui
Prose | Nonfiction | Autobiography
Thi Bui began this project as a grad student, interviewing her parents about their experiences fleeing Vietnam to create an oral history. Wanting to share their story with a wider audience, Bui spent more than a decade learning how to draw comics to create this graphic novel. Her exceptional writing and illustrations won an American Book Award and was a National Book Critics Circle finalist.
Butterfly Boy: Memories of a Chicano Mariposa
by Rigoberto González
Prose | Nonfiction | Autobiography
González recounts a childhood spent as a migrant worker slowly awakening to the realization that he’s gay. He wrestles with a culture of machismo that’s hostile to his gayness and an American culture that’s hostile to his race. His wrenching and ultimately encouraging memoir earned the American Book Award.
Call Me American
By Abdi Nor Iftin
Prose | Nonfiction | Autobiography
Iftin recounts growing up obsessed with American pop culture and life from afar in Somalia. He didn’t get his chance to come to the United States until extremists forced him to flee his homeland and apply for a visa to immigrate. His love and his fears for both his country of origin and his newfound home are shared beautifully in this book. His story was first documented in an episode of the popular radio show This American Life.
Exit West
by Mohsin Hamid
Prose | Fiction
Exit West explores immigration through a magical realism lens, following a young refugee couple from an unnamed country as they wander the globe in search of a safe place to call home. Their ability to use special doors to magically traverse continents gives this story a complex, unusual dimension. Hamid won the first-ever Aspen Words Literary Prize for his lyrical work.
How to American: An Immigrant’s Guide to Disappointing Your Parents
by Jimmy O. Yang
Prose | Nonfiction | Autobiography
Yang brings a light, funny touch to his story of breaking free of his parents’ expectations to pursue a career in stand-up. Both the highs of his comedy success and the lows of his citizenship struggles offer a unique spin on a classic “making it big” Hollywood story.
Immigrant Struggles, Immigrant Gifts
edited by Diane Portnoy, Barry Portnoy and Charlie Riggs
Prose | Nonfiction
The Immigrant Learning Center gathered 11 experts on 11 immigrant groups to write essays about their experiences. The book illuminates both the tremendous diversity and the common experiences between waves of immigrants. Learn more here.
In the Country We Love: My Family Divided
by Diane Guerrero
Prose | Nonfiction | Autobiography
Diane Guerrero, best known for her roles on Orange Is the New Black and Jane the Virgin, has achieved fame and success as an actor, but this memoir chronicles her difficult, pre-fame adolescence. When she was just 14 years old, she came home to discover that her parents had been detained and would be deported. Guerrero, a U.S.-born citizen, was left to fend for herself.
Infinite Country
by Patricia Engel
Prose | Fiction
Infinite Country covers 20 years in the life of a Colombian American family pulled apart by immigration policy. The relatively short novel provides a sweeping overview of the experiences of Elena and Mauro, a couple who flee to the United States to give their children better lives, and their three children, who wrestle with their parents’ sacrifice.
The Joy Luck Club
by Amy Tan
Prose | Fiction
This classic novel follows four Chinese women who have immigrated to the United States and explores the effects their journeys have on them and their children. The story explores many dimensions of the Asian American and female migrant experience. The popular film adaptation made our list of 32 Films, TV Series and Documentaries Featuring Immigrants.
The Kite Runner
by Khaled Hosseini
Prose | Fiction
The book opens with the adventures of two Afghan boys who face sharply diverging paths, one immigrating to the United States while the other is left behind. Hosseini, himself an Afghan American, explores the effects of immigration on relationships and families as he follows the two boys into adulthood.
One Billion Americans: The Case for Thinking Bigger
by Matthew Yglesias
Prose | Nonfiction
Yglesias tackles immigration from the unusual angle of how it could benefit U.S.-born people. He argues that dramatically increasing the U.S. population via immigration could spur innovation and economic prosperity for everyone. It’s a provocative argument that could help start discussions.
Pachinko
by Min Jin Lee
Prose | Fiction
Lee became a National Book Award finalist for her sprawling depiction of several generations of a Korean family that moves to Japan. The family struggles with the loss of their homeland and cultural estrangement. This book is a great exploration of an immigration narrative that doesn’t center the United States.
The Refugees
by Viet Thanh Nguyen
Prose | Fiction
If you enjoy short stories, The Refugees is a good choice. Pulitzer-winning writer Viet Thanh Nguyen’s collection uses short narratives set in both Vietnam and the United States to explore the many facets of Vietnamese American migration.
The Son of Good Fortune
by Lysley Tenorio
Prose | Fiction
Our colleagues at the Institute for Immigration Research have partnered with the literary arts not-for-profit Fall for the Book to create the New American Voices award for immigrant authors of immigration stories. Tenorio, their 2020 awardee, writes beautifully about an undocumented Filipino family at a crossroads.
Unaccompanied
by Javier Zamora
Poetry | Nonfiction | Autobiography
Zamora uses poetry to share his extraordinary story of traveling 4,000 miles by himself at the age of nine to reunite with his parents in the United States. This story is especially resonant while unaccompanied minors routinely make the news.
The Ungrateful Refugee: What Immigrants Never Tell You
by Dina Nayeri
Prose | Nonfiction | Autobiography
Nayeri wrote her memoir to challenge U.S.-born readers’ ideas of what refugees should believe or say. Her story of fleeing Iran for Oklahoma with her family as a child complicates conventional narratives about asylum-seekers and how the United States receives them.