I'm New Here
by Anne Sibley O'Brien
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Pub Date Aug 04 2015 | Archive Date Jun 30 2015
Description
Young readers from all backgrounds will appreciate this touching story about the assimilation of three immigrant students in a supportive school community.
Anne Sibley O'Brien is one of the founders of I'm Your Neighbor, an organization that promotes children's literature featuring "new arrival" cultures. As the rate of immigration to the United States increases, topics related to immigration are increasingly more important in the classroom and home. I'm New Here demonstrates how our global community can work together and build a home for all.
Advance Praise
Readers walk in the shoes of three students struggling after immigrating to the United States.
Readers meet Maria, from Guatemala, Jin, a South Korean boy, and Fatimah, a Somali girl who wears the hijab. O’Brien fosters empathy by portraying only one challenge each must overcome rather than overwhelming readers with many. Maria struggles with the language. Though back home, “Our voices flowed like water and flew between us like birds,” the sounds of English elude her. Clever, phonetically spelled dialogue balloons bring home to readers how foreign English sounds to Maria. For Jin, writing is the trouble; the scribbles of American letters close the door to the wonderful world of stories. Fatimah’s challenge is abstract: she cannot find her place in this new classroom. Gradually, each child begins to bridge the gap—soccer, stories and shared words, artwork—and feel like part of a community. O’Brien’s watercolor-and-digital illustrations masterfully use perspective, white space, and the contrast between the children “back home” and in their new settings to highlight the transition from outsider to friend. Other diverse students fill the classrooms, including a child in a wheelchair. An author’s note tells O’Brien’s own immigrant story, how difficult the transition is, the reasons families might emigrate, and how readers might help.
Whether readers are new themselves or
meeting those who are new, there are lessons to be learned here about
perseverance, bravery, and inclusion, and O’Brien’s lessons are
heartfelt and poetically rendered.
Marketing Plan
Anne Sibley O'Brien is speaking at ALA.
Available Editions
| EDITION | Other Format |
| ISBN | 9781580896122 |
| PRICE | $17.99 (USD) |
Average rating from 18 members
Featured Reviews
A lovely heartwarming story of a diverse community of students welcoming everyone. This book took me back to my days in college where my son and I lived in family housing with almost exclusively international students. He had friends from all over the world and, just like the children in this book, even though they may not speak the language, they all knew the universal language of smiling and playing.
Jayna C, Reviewer
A great story about adapting and fitting in. I once had a student who only spoke Arabic. It took a while for him to adjust. A book like this would have been great for him (once he learned English that is!)
Librarian 200868
"I'm New Here" is a wonderful story of 3 children from different countries that are new to the United States. It shows their fear and confusion in their school. It is a very simple story that ends with the children feeling at home in the new community. I will add this book to my elementary school library and recommend the title to our ESOL teacher.
A wonderful story showing children how scary it can be as the new student in a school. This would be a great book to share with students prior to the arrival of a new classmate, and for children when THEY will be the new student in a class.
Emily H, Librarian
This was a perfect representation of what it’s like to start over. I thought it did an excellent job of showing each part of learning to live in a new culture. Both kids that are new here and kids that have a new kid in their class will learn from and appreciate this story.
Dana B, Reviewer
This is a lovely picture book featuring children from different countries sharing how difficult it is at first to go to a new school when they move to America and how nice it is to learn the language and make friends. I think this book is great for preschool and elementary school age children. I received this book free to review from Netgalley and I highly recommend it!
Katie M, Educator
This thought-provoking new picture book follows the stories of three recent immigrants as they try to adjust to their new lives in the United States. The story alternates point-of-view from Maria from Guatemala, Jin from Korea, and Fatimah from Somalia. Each child has a unique way of explaining his/her own difficulties during the adjustment process, and each is helped in different ways by classmates.
This will be a great book for sharing at the beginning of the school year, as it has a lot to stay about classroom communities and how to be warm and inviting to all. Kids could brainstorm different ways to reach out to others and to be more welcoming. I will definitely be adding this book to my classroom library.
Sweet story. Good to read to children who have moved to a new country and a classroom with a new student. Very simple plot with a lot of opportunity to stimulate discussion.
Allison D, Librarian
This will be a particularly good book for us. We have an extremely mixed bag culturally. There will be a lot of our kids who will totally relate to the kids in the book. This is also the only book I've ever seen about adjusting to a new place that's presented as nonfiction.