Can you imagine a life where, every day, you're fighting to survive? To Tareq, a teenage boy living in the war-torn country of Syria, this is reality. Tareq, his father, and his little sister Susan are trying to escape Syria after their home was destroyed. The family embarks on their journey out of Syria, first stopping in Raqqa to stay with a relative and prepare for the long journey ahead. Along with Musa, Tareq’s cousin, the family makes their way out of Syria and into Turkey. Tareq and Musa go farther into Turkey to find work, leaving Susan and her father behind. After Tareq realizes Turkey isn't a welcoming home, he reluctantly uses the money he has earned to smuggle himself and Susan into Greece. Tareq and Susan must cross the Aegean Sea, packed into an inflatable dinghy with many other frightened refugees. They are trying to get to Lesvos, Greece, an island just off the coast of Turkey. When Tareq and Susan finally arrive in Greece, they are helped out of their boats by volunteers. One volunteer, Alexa, a college student from America, builds a lasting bond with Tareq and Susan, whose real journey has just begun. I had never realized the struggles refugees had to go through until I read A Land of Permanent Goodbyes. It made me realize the struggles to leave one's own home country and go to a new unknown place, to the refugees it will never be their true home. This book also opened my eyes to the stigma around refugees and how some countries and people don't empathize with them and just want them out of their country. What surprised me was how cruel and cold the smuggling business was. Many of the smugglers were charging thousands of dollars for the refugees to be squeezed into a tiny dinghy that might not even make it to its destination. Reading this book made me realize how lucky we are to live in a country where we don’t have to worry about war and bombings like other countries. I also saw how conflicts could tear apart families. It was eye-opening to me to see Tareq struggle with the pain of the deaths of his family members while still staying strong for his little sister Susan. This book also highlighted how people would take advantage of the refugees, especially children and girls. It also showed me the effect volunteering and donating to organizations can have a drastic effect on the lives of those being helped. Hard times like the one seen in this book can bring out the best of people but it will also bring out the worst of them too. -Garrett S.
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Persepolis is a stunning graphic memoir of Marjane Satrapi’s unforgettable childhood during the Islamic Revolution. The contrast between private and public life in a country absolutely plagued by political turbulence is extremely fascinating as we follow Marjarane’s (Marji’s) coming of age. Some of the many disturbances to ‘normal’ life for her came not only from her family’s strong communist and socialist leanings, but also because it was the peak of her elementary years when the Shah was ousted from power in Iran and an conservative Islamic regime took control. She found chaos in the contradictions between private and public life; in her high school years in Vienna, facing the trials of adolescence far from her family; in her homecoming—both sweet and terrible; and, finally, in her volunteer departure from her homeland. It is the sweet record of girlhood and adolescence which were once so outrageous, now made familiar. It’s the story of a young life weaved with the history of her country yet filled with the universal trials and joys of growing up. What I thought was very interesting about this book was that it provided a very detailed summary of how the war in Iran broke out a few years prior, and included some actual facts about the Iranian revolution that proved to be necessary knowledge for the reader later in the story. It was like a brief history run down before the main event, and it really added to my overall understanding of the book. I also enjoyed the different views on life and its experiences that I was a witness to through this book. I always thought foreign countries would have completely foreign lifestyles compared to my own, however, this was hardly the case. Marji lived with her family like me, they drove a family car as my parents do, played board games like my sister and I do, and watched TV together like my sister and I do as well, Marji and her friends even goofed off in school like normal kids living a completely normal life. This for me was very interesting, because I have never truly experienced a third-world country for myself. I loved learning that although she overcame some extreme hardships in her life like war and an internal revolution, her home life was not all that different from yours or mine. I think this book really struck something in my heart, to hear about the mass suffering of a people and to visually witness a child experience torture was truly gravitating. I was in awe of the horrible execution and interrogation methods the war prisoners had to face if captured. Even the citizens experienced truly devastating acts. In one instance a movie theatre was locked from the outside and burned to the ground - nearly 400 people burned alive inside. This was an act of protest from the government to give testament to the Iranian people that these new laws were no joke. The change in laws and policy happened so abruptly that it would have in fact taken ages to get used to, however, Iranians were expected to obey right away which I found to be truly messed up. One night Marji and her family were sitting comfortably in their house and the next she was forced into a separate school just for girls, made to wear a veil so as to not distract men and to be a modest woman, and suffer the consequences if she didn't. The Iranian's downward view on anything Western is fascinating to me as well. Americans view themselves as such high and mighty people, and seeing the opinions of different people from different countries really made me think. Marji had a poster of a Western signer hanging in her room, in order for her to even possess such a thing her parents had to illegally smuggle it into the country by sewing it into their jackets and hiding it from national security. It blows my mind how much was off-limits and just how much I take for granted in everyday life. It was a privilege for Marji to go to parties or social events with friends, or to listen to music freely without worrying that people on the street may hear it and call the police. I do many of those things without even thinking twice, however, Marji risked her life every time she set foot outside the house or turned on a scandalous Western song. This story showed me what it feels like to have power and freedom of life ripped from your grasp, to have your rights stripped away, and to have your way of life completely limited and even viewed as wrong or unholy. I learned a lot of historical information too that I will hopefully carry with me throughout my life; information that will help me to not only understand different people's views on life and their experiences but also how people in other countries may be very similar yet very different from myself. -Isabella S. How many people in Decorah can say they don’t have a home? Esperanza, the narrator of “The House on Mango Street,” has a place to live, but she doesn’t have a home she feels she belongs in. “The House on Mango Street” is a book composed of vignettes detailing various scenes from the life of a young girl living amongst the minority. Esperanza is a Mexican-American girl who has to live a life that is dictated by her social class and her race. There are many books written about people different from me, but I chose this book for the way it describes Esperanza’s experiences—the vignettes feel personal, like reading straight from someone’s diary. There was no overarching plot throughout the book that jumped out to me through the story, but the style of writing was prominent throughout the book. “The House on Mango Street” reads like a diary, like memories that were important for one reason or another. Esperanza often wrote about small details, like candles on top of a fridge, a song, a couch, that it felt so vivid and personal to read. Another thing that I noticed was closely entwined with the emotions and feelings Esperanza had was the actual house itself. The house on mango street was not what her immigrant parents wanted—it was neglected, poor, looked down on—and I noticed the house seemed to be representative of Esperanza herself. When Esperanza gets her future read, the only thing found was “home made of heart”. This stuck out to me as representing the house, and the fact that the only thing homelike about it is what Esperanza can find in her heart with her family. Together these vignettes don’t have a specific plot, but rather an evocative emotion ingrained into each chapter. From first glance, Esperanza and I do not appear similar—we are from different ethnic backgrounds, different classes, even different time periods—but we feel the same. Esperanza tells her stories like she is tired, like she has a bone-deep weariness at the end of each day. Thinking back on the book, I feel as though I am remembering this story as though it is my own, and it helps show that no matter what country your family is from, how much money you have, how you are treated—there aren’t any new emotions. Teenage girls are teenage girls no matter who the world thinks they are, and all feelings are universal even if individual circumstances are unique. -Klara Kelly Destiny tells the story of a teenage Syrian boy, his family, and the people that they meet along the way. As a nearly decade-long war spreads through Syria, Tareq’s once peaceful life is uprooted when he experiences a loss like no other. He, his father, and his 4-year-old sister, Susan, must embark on their long resisted journey to Europe. With a Daesh threatening pit stop in Raqqa, the family must quickly make their way to Turkey with the newly joined company of Tareq’s teenage cousin Musa. Once they arrive in Turkey, Tareq and Musa are sent to Istanbul, to find work, while Susan and his father remain in Gaziantep. After experiencing the challenges that Turkish life holds for Syrians, a resistant Tareq leaves Musa behind to smuggle his family to Greece. With the little money made, the family is able to send Tareq and Susan across the unpredictable Aegean Sea into Lesvos, Greece, an Island off the coast of Turkey. After a dangerous and uncertain smugglers' ride to the Island, Tareq is met with the generosity of many volunteers, including American college student Alexia, who makes a life-lasting impression on Tareq and the people that mean the most to him. This book opened my mind up to a refugee's journey in a completely new way. I was always aware that making the decision to leave one's home can never be easy, but I was under the impression that there were many people whose job was to make it easier on the refugees. Instead, throughout this book, I found that more people are making it extra challenging to cross borders, which is happening on top of the already life-threatening situations refugees face. What surprised me the most was that many of the smugglers were Syrian refugees themselves. It was hard to believe that someone who had escaped from that kind of danger wasn’t fighting harder to get their fellow Syrians out safely. Reading this book really made me think about the life that I have and how it is sometimes taken for granted. Here we are losing ourselves over a lost sports event, or a failed assignment, while kids all over the world have bombs exploding left and right. One thing that is highlighted in this book is the idea that what is ultimately the most dangerous for humanity is the divide between the love in our hearts and the hatred that our mind convinces our hearts to feel. This is something that affected my opinion on a lot of conflicts around the world. I think that in the future, it will be a little bit easier for me to understand the pain and the loss that the people fleeing these countries experience. Tareq’s life was so different from mine that it was easy to see that this book was fiction. However, after reading, I keep thinking about how real this journey is for so many people, and that was difficult for me to grasp. By Kera W. No one understands struggle like a refugee does. Sandra Uwiringiyimana lived in the Democratic Republic of Congo as a child. Her people were stateless, meaning they did not belong to one certain area. Her world was full of happiness one moment and angry battles the next, because anyone who looked like her was discriminated against. War was a part of her normal, everyday life. It forced her out of school and moved her into temporary refugee camps. Her community would have their lives turned upside down for a few months, but then everything would return to normal. When Sandra was ten, another battle broke out, this one not temporary. Armed men came into their refugee camp and slaughtered everyone they could reach. Tents were set on fire, and Sandra was able to escape by only a miracle. She and her broken family had to pick up the pieces of their former life, but were unable to return to their sense of normalcy. Through a UN refugee system, Sandra and her family were able to immigrate to America. She imagined America as if everyone was rich and shiny. Upon arrival, though, they had to struggle yet again through hunger and discrimination. Sandra found a way to use her voice against racism and learn to heal from her traumatic past. I was surprised that the book wasn’t all sad or regretful. Many refugee stories focus only on the hard parts of their past, but How Dare the Sun Rise also allows good memories to surface. Many chapters are dedicated to the strength of her people and the beauty of her childhood home. Sandra found ways to let the light parts of her story in, making it seem much more human. I found this form of writing to be much more emotionally impactful, because you could see the drastic changes she went through in such a short amount of time. This book has changed my thinking process quite a bit. Many times throughout the story, I had to remind myself that it was a memoir, and therefore completely true. It is easy to read a book and disconnect from the story it is telling, simply because we allow ourselves to believe it is made up. I am definitely more open-minded towards people who’s past I don’t know. It really reinforces the fact that the people around you can come from many different walks of life, and how they could be struggling in ways you aren’t aware of. Empathy was a big part of this book, but it took effort for me to try and understand how I would’ve reacted in her situations. I’ve realized that I have to try harder to actually understand someone else’s point of view and not just feel sorry for them. By Bridget B. In this stirring book, I got to know Kimberly, who is a Chinese immigrant who moved with her mom to New York. I followed her through many years and hardships. The book opens with the apartment that her aunt helped them get, which is in terrible condition. They struggle with towering poverty, and adjusting to American life. Kimberly's mom works long days at a clothing factory that follows little to no safety protocols, and after school, Kimberly is expected to help out until they have fulfilled their quotas for the day. You see what it’s like for a middle school girl to try and integrate into a school while trying to overcome a language barrier. It's extremely gratifying to see Kimberly slowly but surely get the recognition she deserves for her immense amount of smarts and kindness. From love, to high school parties, to financial troubles, Girl in Translation is a wonderful story with a very honest feel to it. I was surprised at how much of a (excuse me) bitch the aunt was in this story. She was supposed to be helping her family thrive, but instead continually (and intentionally) kept them from improving. She kept them in a terrible, low paying factory job and a roach infested apartment that was going to get knocked down any day. She was constantly trying to make sure that Kimberly and her mom never did any better than her. When Kimberly ended up doing better than her son in school and getting full scholarships to a private school and Yale, she got so mad. The aunt then tried to threaten taking away their apartment and manipulating them in other ways. She never thought of anyone but herself, and relied on the undeserved authority she had over Kimberly and her mom to keep them beneath her. I was also frustrated about how unsupportive some of Kimberly’s teachers were towards her because of the language barrier. This changed my thinking about how I thought everyone would understand the difficulties of immigrating to America. I know very few immigrants, and so learning a bit more about the way people can get trapped in poverty, or factory jobs, was very eye-opening. I learned how little I know about how the immigration process works, and I still know very little. I don’t feel like one book is enough for me to say that I’m “changed” or “more empathetic”. I wish it was that easy, but I feel like I need to learn the stories of other people and what their experiences are today. I find myself more curious about child labor in factories, and what can be done to ensure that everyone is paid properly. It’s very easy for me to write the experiences in the book off as just letters on a page, but things like that happen every day. I hate that the people who have such excess live in such close proximity to people who heat their houses with their oven and cover windows with trash bags. Maybe I will be compelled to do something about this, or maybe I will forget about it amongst my comfort, as so many of us do. I am now realizing this book has made me more cynical. Maybe that’s for the best. By Andie Gegax Teenagers face a great deal of growing pains when it comes to family, relationships, and their future life ahead. Love, Hate, and Other Filters, written by Samira Ahmed, tells the story of a young American-Indian-Muslim woman, named Maya who goes through the trials of growing up in the Midwest with traditional parents and new American values. Maya with traditional parents and new American values. Maya grows up in a very strict household often not being able to uphold her parents expectations, when all she wants to do is be a normal American teenage girl. She really just wants to hangout with friends, film everything she can, and date the boy of her dreams. All while experiencing many instances of islamophobia all demonstrated by one boy at school. While reading this book the thing that surprised me the most was definitely just how strict her parents were. Maya had really wanted to go to NYU for film school and she ended up having to choose between her dream or her parents, ultimately she pursued her dream and her parents disowned her. This was somewhat hard for me to understand because something that Maya should have determined was so easily willing to be thrown away by her parents. Although the tense plot with Maya’s parents, my favorite part about the book was the way in which it was told. It was given this sort of modern feel. I loved how the author incorporated various text messages, emojis, new reports, and stories to add to the overall style of the book. After this book I definitely learned more about the reality of minorities living in the United States. I had known before of their struggle but this helped me understand it from someone around my age's point of view. Samira Ahmed does a wonderful job of portraying the story of a young girl trying to find herself amid all the chaos of growing up in a small American town. I like how she brought light to things that teenagers had never thought of or understood until after reading. “Even if we lived in India, I would still be who I am and want what I want. Geography wouldn't have changed that.” by Amelia D. What is life like in the eyes of other peoples? This story just goes to show how much different someone’s life is two countries away. This story takes place in the present Barrios in Guatemala. The story is told by both Pulga and Pequeña who are cousins. Chico, Pulga's brother, is also part of the group. The three are faced with hardship everyday. People around them are being forced to join gangs or are getting killed. They decide that they can no longer live this way and set off on a treacherous journey for a better life. Leaving their families is difficult already but the path ahead will be much harder. Many dangers lie ahead of them including riding atop the dangerous trains called La Bestia (the beast). There is no turning back. The book was surprising when I read it because I had no idea the journey to America is so difficult. It was so unbelievable to me that people do this everyday. These people come from terrible places and face the risk of death even to escape. Most of the time, when people actually end up reaching the border to the United States they will be sent back to their countries from where they fled. I want to learn more about the lives of real people who have gone on this journey and have yet to go on this journey. This story hit me pretty hard. I felt a lot when I read it. I could not believe how tough life is for people south of the US. The journey is unimaginable, I can’t even begin to wrap my head around how stuff like this happens on the daily. It breaks my heart that most people set off on this trip and almost reach their destination only to be turned away. I felt my satisfaction with the US dwindle a bit. When I started reading this book, I had no idea the impact it would have on me. I just wanted to keep reading it. I have never read a book this fast in my entire life. After reading this, it has opened up my world by only showing it to me through something the size of a keyhole. It is an amazing story to follow and I would recommend it to everyone. By Julia S. “Maybe it's the desert, maybe it's the closeness of life and death, maybe it's the tension between the two cultures we carry inside us. Whatever it is, I'll never understand it unless I'm close to it" (Cantú 23.) Being from a Mexican immigrant family can be difficult. Francisco Cantú spent four years in college studying international relations and learning about the border through policy and history but was in search of more. The Line Becomes A River is a novel about Francisco Cantú and his journey as a Border Patrol agent. Cantú needed more than to just learn about the border through books and history, so he signed up to be a Border Patrol agent. Throughout reading this book it became clear that Cantú wanted his readers to understand how the border really is. He wanted his readers to understand what Border Patrol agents went through on a daily to ensure American citizens are safe. While I was reading through Cantú’s book I was in awe of his bravery. I was extremely shocked when I learning he had chosen to become a Border Patrol agent even after his grandma left Mexico to come to America. I know he explained his reasoning to his mom in the book for wanting to become a Border Patrol agent, but I am still trying to wrap my mind around why he would want to handle dead bodies and take living detainees to detention centers when those people are part of his heritage. This book really confirmed my thinking about how complicated things on the border really are. Cantú did a really good job of showing how gruesome the border can be not just for immigrants trying to get to a better life, but also for the Border Patrol agents. This book has changed my thinking towards the U.S. Border Patrol because of José Martinez’s story in the last part of the book. José left the U.S to go back to Mexico to visit his dying mother and was arrested trying to come back in. Although he was undocumented, I still feel it is so unfair because he wasn’t trying to hurt anyone. José was just trying to make a living for his family working as a maintenance worker in a market in the U.S. My favorite part of the book was the ending when Cantú added in José’s perspective. This was my favorite part because we were able to see the other side of José. by Kyleigh B. Love, Hate & Other Filters, by Samira Ahmed, is about a young Muslim-Indian girl named Maya growing up in Illinois under strict expectations from her parents who, do want the best for her, are very against her pursuing her true dreams of going to film school and eventually basing her career on it. They want her to follow a more “sensible” occupation like being a doctor or a lawyer, but she has a true passion for film and decides to apply to NYU for film school with her partner-in-crime Hina, her mom’s younger sister, and gets in. All while trying to juggle her parent's nonsupport of her filming, and trying to find a way to tell them about her acceptance, she finds herself in an arduous love triangle. On one hand, there is there is Kareem, the sensible Muslim-Indian boy, in college at Princeton, majoring in engineering, that does actually hold Maya’s interest and is actually kind of fun for her to hang out with and talk to, that her parents would love for her to be with. But, on the other hand, there is Phil, Maya’s longtime crush since grade school, who dreams of going to college in Vermont and becoming an EMT, who is also undeniably white and different than her familial customs and who her parents most definitely would never want her being with. Through all of this love, hate, and hardship, Maya is faced with yet another obstacle. Islamophobia. After a terrorist attack is announced in Illinois, a classmate of hers named Brian becomes fixated on the fact that Maya and her family are Muslim. Hate crimes against Maya and her family ensue due to his prejudice and Maya must find a way to deal with it all. Will Maya be able to make it out of Illinois and finally pursue her dream? Read Love, Hate and Other Filters to find out! I chose this book because I recently did another English project on Islamophobia and the effects it’s having in our society, so I was already interested in part of that topic. This book features Maya, who struggles throughout the book with issues involving her pursuit of film school without her parent's knowledge, her Indian parents expectations, and her faith (Muslim) and how people view it/unfairly link it to terrorism. I personally do not struggle with any of these things. I am not a Muslim, my parents are not Indian, and I am not pursuing film school behind my parents back. This book met these guidelines based on these differences between Maya and me, but also because I think that because her experiences were so different from my day to day ones, I made me think more about her struggles and how I would deal with and handle them, so in a way it made me “break through the wall” so to say in order to fully understand and place myself in Maya’s shoes throughout the book. Quote: “It’s selfish and horrible, but in this terrible moment, all I want is to be a plain old American teenager. Who can simply mourn without fear. Who doesn’t share last names with a suicide bomber. Who goes to dances and can talk to her parents about anything and can walk around without always being anxious. And who isn’t a presumed terrorist first and an American second” - Samira Ahmed, Love, Hate & Other Filters |
AuthorSTenth grade students at Decorah High School share how they're reading outside of their own experiences and how it has changed them. Categories
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