Coming to America: The Story of Immigration (Cover-To-Cover Informational Books: 20th Century)

Mattern, Joanne; Sanfilippo, Margaret

ISBN 10: 0780797159 / ISBN 13: 9780780797154

Published by Perfection Learning, 2001

About this Item

This is a withdrawn library or rental book. It is stamped or stickered.

Seller Inventory # BRV.0780797159.G

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Coming to America: The Story of Immigration (Cover-To-Cover Informational Books: 20th Century)
• Publisher: Perfection Learning
• Publication Date: 2001
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0780797159
• ISBN 13: 9780780797154
• Binding: Hardcover
• Illustrator: Sanfilippo, Margaret
• Condition: good

About this title

Synopsis

Intersperses facts about immigrants and immigration in the United States between the years 1892 and 1924 with the fictional story of twelve-year-old Lena Martini's family as they emigrate from Italy.

Reviews

Grade 4-8-Mattern uses a fictionalized story, coupled with nonfiction chapters and fact boxes, to tell what it was like for immigrants coming to America through Ellis Island at the turn of the 20th century. This upbeat account, written in workmanlike prose, broadly covers why people left Europe, their journey to the New World, and what they could expect when they arrived. The story centers on the Martini family, most notably 12-year-old Lena, who lives on a small farm in northern Italy. In 1906, her father and uncle have saved enough money and send for the family. The mother and children travel by steamboat from Genoa, pass through Ellis Island, settle in New York City where they are helped by volunteers at a settlement house, and finally move to a little farm in the country. The text is accompanied by numerous small, well-selected, but often fuzzy black-and-white photographs and what appear to be pencil drawings. Minor errors include the Puritans' landing at Plymouth Rock in 1621. The author has drawn heavily from Ellen Levine's If Your Name Was Changed at Ellis Island (Scholastic, 1994)-even to the point of picking up an occasional lengthy phrase, although nowhere is this source credited. Levine's book covers similar material at the same reading level in a more attractive format.
Diane S. Marton, Arlington County Library, VA
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.