Books in My America series

FOR USE IN SCHOOLS AND LIBRARIES ONLY. In 1852, during the height of the California Gold Rush, ten-year-old Wong makes the dangerous trip to America to live with his uncle, exchanging the famine and war of his native country for brutal bullies and grueling labor in America, Wong joins his uncle and countless others in the effort to strike it rich on the great ""Golden Mountain."" Unfortunately, he, and most of the rest of the dreamers, soon discover that there's no such thing as a Golden Mountain, only dirt, mud, and occasionally tiny flecks of gold dust--flecks that are to be turned over to the owners of the mines, in return for barely livable wages. However, someone as clever and resourceful as Wong will have to find other ingenious ways of making money if they're going to make it in America. But can they overcome the bitter, racist white Americans to find success?

It's August 1941 when Sumiko Adachi starts at a new school in Phoenix, Arizona. In spite of her first-day jitters, she finds a friendly face in Emi Kuno. But everything changes after Japan bombs Pearl Harbor, and the United States enters World War II. Suddenly the girls are faced with anti-Japanese sentiment from classmates and neighbors. When an arbitrary dividing line is drawn through Phoenix, the girls find themselves on opposite sides. Can Sumiko and Emi maintain their friendship when one of them is forced into a confinement camp, and the other is allowed to remain free? It's the storytellers who preserve a nation's history. But what happens when some stories are silenced? The I Am America series features fictional stories based on important historical events from people whose voices have been underrepresented, lost, or forgotten over time.

Its 1916, and Europe is at war. Yet Margaret Singh, living an entire ocean away in California, is unaffected. Then the United States enters the war against Germany. Suddenly the entire country is up in arms against those who seem un-American or speak against the countrys ally, Great Britain. When Margarets father is arrested for his ties to the Ghadar Party, a group of Indian immigrants seeking to win Indias independence from Great Britain, Margarets own allegiances are called into question. But she was born in America and America itself fought to be freed from British rule. So what does it even mean to be American? Its the storytellers that preserve a nations history. But what happens when some stories are silenced? The I Am America series features fictional stories based on important historical events from people whose voices have been under represented, lost, or forgotten over time.