Swimming to America (Hardcover)

by Alice Mead (Author)
Key Phrases: Miss Wesley, Buns of Steel, Lewis Hine (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal
Grade 6-9–With characteristic sensitivity and optimism, Mead presents the struggles of Linda Berati, who seeks to uncover a past that her parents refuse to share. A family-history project at her Brooklyn school emboldens her to confront her hardworking, domineering mother with a demand for answers: why did she flee Albania; how was her face scarred; and why does Linda have recurring nightmares of drowning and suffocation? In addition, her compatibility with her old friends wanes as Donna and Crissy focus on boys, clothes, and social conformity. Linda identifies more with eighth-grade classmate Ramón, a Cuban refugee. After a stranger arrives on the scene, Linda discovers a criminal connection between him and Ramón's older brother, Miguel. Anxious to help her friend with his family crisis, Linda contacts the police and, at last, shares her worries with her parents. With newfound trust and respect, they finally embrace her desire to enroll in the advanced educational program at a nearby academy. Linda and Ramón's immigrant families share a determination to survive, to fit in, and to avoid conflict with authorities that might jeopardize their future in America. Through the two main characters, this struggle is personalized and enriched with universal adolescent issues of independence, responsibility, and self-confidence. Realistic dialogue, an engaging plot, and Linda's roller-coaster emotions effectively counter the unlikely protracted reluctance of the girl's parents to share their past and Linda's surprisingly fearless berating of Miguel and his drug-dealing companions. Nonetheless, readers will find this title an informative, empathetic, contemporary portrait of the immigrant experience.–Gerry Larson, Durham School of the Arts, NC

From Booklist
Gr. 5-8. "Just tell me how you got that stupid scar," rages eighth-grader Linda Berati to her mother. "Stop lying." She wants to be done with secrets; the ones she has to keep to protect her family (she admits that she's "foreign" but "isn't supposed to talk about it") and the one about the strange man she is sure is dealing drugs with her friend's brother. Somehow this is bound up with the scraps of memory that come to her about being gagged and almost drowned. Her new intensity puts her at odds with the girls who used to be her friends. When one of her teachers assigns a family history, Linda knows the time has come for answers. At the heart of the story are the experiences of individuals who immigrate to America through unofficial channels and what they stand to lose if they are exposed. Mead is a capable storyteller, and her characters and situations ring true, as do the voices of the children caught up in difficult circumstances. Cindy Welch
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 9-12
  
• Hardcover: 160 pages
• Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR) (February 24, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0374380473
• ISBN-13: 978-0374380472
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: No customer reviews yet. Be the first.
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #598,435 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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