Immigration: The Ultimate Teen Guide

by Tatyana Kleyn The City College of New York, CUNY, USA

Overview

As the future of our democratic society, youth from U.S.-born and immigrant backgrounds alike will need to make informed decisions on our diverse nation's behalf. To do so, young adults need to be provided with access to accurate information and varied perspectives about immigration. In Immigration: The Ultimate Teen Guide, Tatyana Kleyn (an immigrant herself) examines the myths and realities of immigration, as well as the laws and policies that regulate it. She explores a number of issues associated with immigration, including cultural clashes and discrimination, the debate on language, undocumented immigrants, and what it means to be an American.

The book includes an overview of the nation's history with immigration, definitions of relevant terms, and recent statistical and demographic information. It also discusses why and how many immigrants make the journey to the United States. Other aspects the book addresses include undocumented immigrants and refugees/asylees, laws and policies that either support or hinder immigration, and how young immigrants can reconcile their competing identities.

Aiming to generate a discussion on immigration with factual and contemporary information, real life stories, experiences, and quotes from teenagers and young adults, Immigration: The Ultimate Teen Guide presents a comprehensive and engaging approach to informing readers about the varied ways immigration is experienced, viewed, and disputed.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780810869844
Publisher:	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Publication date:	02/24/2011
Series:	It Happened to Me Series , #29
Pages:	238
Product dimensions:	6.80(w) x 10.00(h) x 0.80(d)
Age Range:	12 - 17 Years

About the Author

Tatyana Kleyn is assistant professor in the Bilingual Education and Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) program at the City College of New York.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments ix

1 History, Demography, and Terminology 1

2 Immigration Stories 17

3 Immigration Myths and Realities 37

4 Undocumented Immigrants 55

5 Refugees and Asylees 75

6 Homesickness and Cultural Differences 95

7 A Multilingual America 115

8 Encountering Discrimination 133

9 Immigration Debates 151

10 Laws and Policies 169

11 Becoming American 191

12 Looking Around and Looking Ahead 207

Index 223

About the Author 227

Editorial Reviews

Kleyn takes on the often-contentious issue of immigration in her contribution to the It Happened to Me series, Immigration: The Ultimate Teen Guide. Focusing on immigration in the United States, the book provides a historical overview and then moves into contemporary issues facing immigrants, such as documentation status, language differences, discrimination, and immigration laws and policies. The text is enriched with first-person narratives from immigrants themselves, and since the book's target audience is teenagers, these stories all come from young people. Each chapter ends with a list of resources, including books, Web sites, and movies. The book will be most useful for students doing research on immigration or wanting more information on the topic. The title does a very good job of providing an overview of the issues and terms associated with immigration in the United States. In addition to researchers, the book will be of interest to immigrant teens themselves and the friends and families of immigrants, with information about homesickness and other emotions immigrants may face, as well as suggestions to help them cope. The perspective of the book is decidedly immigration friendly; it provides a discussion of anti-immigration myths and why they are wrong. Anyone looking for fodder to support an anti-immigration argument will not find it here.

VOYA

Gr 10 Up—This volume covers the topic from personal, historical, political, and international perspectives and tackles some incredibly controversial issues in the mix. However, for the most part, American-born Caucasians are represented as being racially unaware of issues that confront immigrant populations and native-born Americans of color. Kleyn occasionally acknowledges survey results as being inadequate to draw conclusions and then proceeds to draw generalizations from them. At one point, she indicates that Caucasians are the "perceived mold" of Americans (i.e., Americans of color are not perceived by their Caucasian counterparts as truly American). At another point, the author indicates that "marriage between a man and a woman and the woman's role in taking care of her husband" are core American values. There is certainly a portion of the population that believes these things, but it is in no way clear that they represent a majority. That said, this book represents an interesting counterpoint to anti-immigration rhetoric, and there is good information included. However, books that are billed as "Ultimate Teen Guides" typically have more interesting design elements and are written in a less-academic tone. There are better titles on this topic that do an excellent job of discussing immigration in the positive light it deserves, without the unnecessary bias. See "Focus On: Immigration" (School Library Journal, January 2011) for suggested titles.—Kristin Anderson, Columbus Metropolitan Library System, OH

School Library Journal