The book takes place in America during the late 1800s to early 1900s. It tells of the trials and hardships immigrants faced comming to America. It also describes awful conditions they had to endure at Ellis Island during their inspections. These inspections were used to decide which families could be admitted to America.
Upon passing inspection, they were able to come into and live in America. If their journey here was not enough to get your attention, then their living conditons will. Children had very little schooling and would often get jobs to help out with expenses. The women were amazed at the convenience of running water, even though there was only one sink that everyone shared who lived on that floor and the water was often dirty. Despite of the living conditions and changes made in their lives, the immigrant children adjusted well to their new life.
I would recommend this book when discussing immigration into the United States in the 1800s and 1900s. The book flows well and will capture your interest through the fantastic photographs. Freedman does an excellent job of putting a face with the story. It will be wonderful for your children to use this book as a comapre and contrast of how life was then to how life is now.
This book was well-written with vibrant photos that truly captured a moment in time. I read part of the book with my fifth grade students and plan to purchase several books to share the whole story to them.
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2 comments:
I could not agree with you more. It is amazing how spoiled we are! What we thing are must haves they thought were luxaries back then.
I also agree that the pictures could speak for themselves. It does truly move you.
Immigrant children endured much in the early years of the U.S. I wonder how similar their experiences are to some immigrant children today. So many of them travel from place to place, depending on where their parents can find work. Oftentimes, they do not speak English and may attend many schools in a single year. I wonder how many young immigrant children today work to help their parents make ends meet. How much is covered up in terms of child labor and the conditions children live in.
There's a nonfiction book called, Shutting Out the Sky (Hopkinson) that's about the tenements in NY. It tells more about the conditions in tenements. Ashes of Roses is about a fire in a dress factory that led to the recognition of the horrid conditions in factories in the early 20th century. It's also historical fiction. The fire was real but the characters are fictional. This book was the first that I had read that so vividly described the conditions in factories. Again, I wonder how many sweatshops still exist in America and in other countries. How could we treat people so horribly because they need to work to have food for themselves and their families?
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