Up until the last decade, immigration children’s books primarily depicted White migration through Ellis Island.
Now, with over 1,600 books depicting characters that have migrated or have been displaced since 1970 and their new generations, immigration book collections and teaching can now represent our multiracial, multicultural, and multilingual immigrant communities.*
Using I’m Your Neighbor Books’ free database, you can now select titles that build the welcoming skills of your long-term communities and a crucial sense of belonging for immigrants and their new generations.
discover
I’m Your Neighbor Books categorizes books by the Community Represented allowing you to discover K-12 titles set in 105+ Immigrant and New Generation communities.
create
I’m Your Neighbor Books tags titles from a selection of 90+ Cross-cultural Themes allowing you to create diverse teaching K-12 units & thematic collections.
build
Looking for a curated collection & conversation about immigration?
Explore our Welcoming Library Collections.
*Further Definition of the Books I’m Your Neighbor Books Collects
Time Period: I’m Your Neighbor Books only collects children’s book titles with Immigrant or New Generation characters who migrated or have been displaced from 1970-present from non-European countries. While there are beautiful books about historic migration, we seek to recognize the growing genre of modern multiracial and multicultural immigrant children’s literature and to encourage teaching that truly reflects our new immigrant communities.
Location: In general, I’m Your Neighbor Books collects children’s books set in the nation that an immigrant resettles in. We do not collect books set in an immigrant’s home country unless that country is part of the migration story or depicts a solid link to migration. For example, without a collection of books depicting Iraqi Americans, we have collected books about the Iraqi war that brought Iraqi immigrants to America. An additional exception is books set in refugee camps or other places of internal or external displacement.