Behind the Mountains
Written by Edwidge Danticat
Published by Scholastic, Inc.
It is election time in Haiti, and bombs are going off in the capital city of Port-au-Prince. During a visit from her home in rural Haiti, Celiane Espérance and her mother are nearly killed. Looking at her country with new eyes, Celiane gains a fresh resolve to be reunited with her father in Brooklyn, New York.
The harsh winter and concrete landscape of her new home are a shock to Celiane, who witnesses her parents’ struggle to earn a living and her brother’s uneasy adjustment to American society, and at the same time encounters her own challenges with learning and school violence.
National Book Award finalist Edwidge Danticat weaves a beautiful, honest, and timely story of the American immigrant experience in this luminous novel about resilience, hope, and family.
Primary ISBN:
Publication Date: April 2022
Available As: Paperback, Audiobook, eBook
Middle Grade , Age 08 or older
Community Represented: Haitian/Haitian American
Themes: Coming of Age, Cross-Group Friendship, Family Relationship: Parents, Immigrant: Reunion of Family, Multilingual Character, Own Voices/Lived Experience, Refugee: War/Conflict, Welcoming by Individual
Setting: Haiti (Port-au-Prince); United States (Brooklyn NY)
Character’s New Arrival/New American Status: Immigrant, Refugee
Book Creator(s) Connection to the Community Represented: Own Voices/Lived Experience
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