This was a fictional story about a little girl named Sera who immigrated to America. What I liked about this book the most was the excerpts from actual letters from people who had come through Ellis Island. That was really interesting. This would be a good book to use to tie in with a unit on immigration, or about that time period of history.
Reading Level: 5.0 Interest Level: 3-6 ( )

Summary:
This is a book about immigrants coming to American around the time of WWI. This book is made up of letters written by different people from different countries who came to the United States by way of Ellis Island. The letters tell a story about what it was like to sail to the United States around the time of WWI. It tells the readers what it was like when they first got to the United States. They were examined for lice and other diseases. They had to have a sponsor get them or be at least sixteen with $25 to be released. Many people were sent back to their native countries.

Personal Reaction:
I have heard stories about my family migrating to the United States from Poland, to escape Hitler. I never heard the details that I got from this book about what it was like. I have a new found pride in my family and our history because I now know what they had to go through to get here.

Classroom Extensions:
This book would be a good book to read when learning about family trees. This could be an introduction to the subject. The students could then ask their parents and grandparents about their ancestors and how they got to the United States.
This book could also be read when learning about WWI and the holocaust. We learn many thing about the holocaust, but there's usually not many details given about what the immigrants went through to get to the United states or what they had to go through once they got here.

I love the layout of the book- especially for children. It is a mixture of historical text and photographs, beautiful illustrations, and includes the fictional story of a child who is traveling to New York alone to meet her father. The use of authentic voices of immigrants placed with historical photographs makes this is a must have reference book to share with upper elementary students. The cover is beautiful. ( )

Summary: This book follows the journey of a young girl, Sera, on her way to and through Ellis Island. While this little girl is fictional, her experiences were common occurrences and the stories from those who actually came through Ellis Island are definitely not fiction.

Personal Reaction: Overall, I really liked this book. In history classes throughout school we learned about people coming to America through Ellis Island, mainly the Irish. But I never knew what all went on there and how many different people came through. It was interesting to see the stories of those who lived through all of it.

Classroom Extensions:
1. Students will each pick an immigrant's story out of the book. After learning where the immigrant is from, the students will each do a small research project, trying to find out what was happening in the country of origin that might make someone leave (war, disease, famine, etc...). Or if they can find anything on the immigrants themselves, it would be even better.

2. Have students write their own journal entries about a journey to and through Ellis Island. They will each look at an immigrant's story in the book, and write the journal entries they believe the immigrant could have written. They should try to make it unique, using Sera's tale as an example.

Summary:
This is a story about immigrants coming to America through Ellis Island. It follows a fictional character named Sera, but she has real experiences that mimic the experiences that can be read as side notes. Sera is writing to her mother, and the book is set up like a scrapbook. It has quotes from people who came to Ellis Island, and artifacts. This really gives an amazing picture as to what it was like then.

Personal Reaction:
This is a really good book, but it is very lengthy if you try to read everything in it. I would almost say this isn't a very good read aloud. However there is so much information in it and it is conveyed in a creative way.

Classroom Extension:
1. Of course teaching a history lesson about Ellis Island
2. This is kind of reaching but using the ages of the people who gave quotes and the year provided as well, they can see how old the person would be today. ( )