Resource
List

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last updated January, 2004
Resource List of Books, Websites
and Other Women-Centered Materials
Organized by Subject
International


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Behind
the Mountains, Edwidge Danticat
Description: This
first person fiction series from Orchard Books, an imprint of
Scholastic Books, features authors from a variety of backgroundswriting
about their immigrant experience of coming to the US. In award-winning
author Edwidge Danticat's first novel for young readers, it is
election time in Haiti. Bombs are going off in the capital city
of Port-au-Prince, and Celiane Esperance and her mother are nearly
killed, giving them a fresh resolve to join Celiane's father in
Brooklyn, New York. The harsh winter and concrete landscape are
a shock to Celiane, who witnesses her parents' struggle to earn
a living, her brother's uneasy adjustment to America, and her
own encounters with learning difficulties and school violence.
(Information from publisher) Subjects: Fiction - Young
Adult; Immigration
Scholastic
Books, 2002, 0-439-37299-2, Hardcover, 152 pgs, 5 1/4 x 8, $16.95.
Level: 5+. |
Collaborations Literacy: English
in Our Lives, Donna Moss, Cathy Shank and Lynda Terrill
Description:
from the catalog...Authentic stories told by adult newcomers and
longer-term immigrants form the basis for this affective, humanistic,
five-level adult ESL series. Organized around six relevant contexts:
self, school, family, work, local community, and global community.
The stories serve as springboards for lively activities which
develop linguistic skills, vocabulary, and lifeskills competencies.
Subjects: ESL; Learner Writings; Immigration Issues
Heinle & Heinle Publishers,
1996, 0-838423-24-9, Paperback, 168 pgs, $21.95. |
| Flight
to Freedom, Ana Veciana-Suarez
Description: This
first person fiction series from Orchard Books, an imprint of
Scholastic Books, features authors from a variety of backgroundswriting
about their immigrant experience of coming to the US. Yara, an
eighth-grader, lives in a middle-class neighborhood of 1967 Havana,
Cuba. Her parents, who do not share the political beliefs of the
Communist party, finally are forced to flee Cuba with their children
to Miami, Florida. There, Yara records in her diary the difficulties
she encounters in a strange land with foreign customs. She must
learn English and go to school with new children. Her parents
also adjust to their new country differently, and Yara's father
grows frustrated with her mother when she becomes more independent.
Subjects: Fiction - Young Adult; Immigration
Scholastic
Books, 2002, 0-439-, Hardcover, 208 pgs, 5 1/4 x 8, $16.95. Level:
5+. |
How
to Feel Good: Learning to Relax and Exercise - An Invitation,
Wai Ming Chan, Rosalba Torres, Mayra Villalta, Miralta Campos
Virgilia Guzman and Lee Hewitt
Description: from the introduction -- When you are a new
arrival in a country, you may feel strange because it is a place
that you don't know very well and everything is different! This
can make you feel sad or depressed. We know how that feels because
it happened to us. On these pages we want to share our experiences
and how we overcame those bad moments. We found ways to relax
by doing things that we enjoy like exercising, crocheting, reading
and fishing.
Subjects: Health; Self-Help; Learner Writings; Immigration
Issues
Adult Learning Program, Jamaica
Plain Community Centers, 1998, http://www2.wgbh.org/MBCWEIS/LTC/ALRI/feelgood.html,
Internet, $---Internet. |
| New
Home, Hard Work, Naznin Monaf
Description:
From the catalog... Naznin writes about her arrival in England
from Bangladesh. Cold, pregnant and unsure of what lay ahead,
she was about to experience some of the hardest days of her life.
This autobiographical account was written during ESOL classes
and has an introduction in both English and Bengali. Cassette
available. Subjects: Memoir; Bilingual; Immigration Issues;
Learner Writings
Peppercorn / Avanti-Gatehouse, 1994,
0-906253-38-1, Paperback, 51 pgs, $6.00. Level: 1-2. |
Oceans
Apart, Kohinoor Akter
Description:
From the catalog... The author, aged 13 when she married in Bangladesh,
traveled to England before giving birth to her third child. Her
first two children and her husband had to remain in Bangladesh.
This is a vivid and heartrending account of the stresses placed
on families when they become separated on account of immigration
laws. Illustrated with line drawings, the text is in both English
and Bengali. Subjects: Memoir; Bilingual; Immigration Issues
Peppercorn / Avanti-Gatehouse, 1998,
0-906253-62-4, Paperback, 34 pgs, $6.00. Level: 1-2. |
| Shy
Mama’s Halloween, Anne Broyles and Leane Morin (Illustrator)
Description: Publisher
description: For Anya, Dasha, Irina, and Dimitrii, newly arrived
to this country, Halloween seems a wonderfully strange and exciting
holiday. They enlist Mrs. Rumanski and her midnight-blue Singer
sewing machine in the apartment upstairs to help with their costumes,
and Papa agrees to take them out trick-or-treating. But Papa comes
home sick that evening, and it looks as though the children will
be watching the trick or treating from the upstairs window. Mama,
who is frightened by so much in this new country, especially the
thought of ghosts and goblins on the streets, surprises them all
when she rises to the occasion and takes her young princess, witch,
devil, and clown down the stairs and out into the night. Includes
website
link of activities. Subjects: Children's Fiction;
Immigration
Tilbury House,
2000, 0-88448-245-6, Paperback, 40 pgs, 9 x 10, $7.95. |
Stories
from the Heart: A Reading and Writing Book for Adults, Ronna
Magy
Description:
31 authentic stories written by adult ESL students from 10 countries
Subjects: ESL; Learner Writings; Immigration Issues
Linmore Publishing, 1999 (?), 0-916591-26-3,
Paperback, $9.95. Level: 5-8. |
| Trader,
Rebecca Tagoe
Description:
From the catalog...Trader is Rebecca Tagoe's amazing story of
buying and selling cloth in Ghana, and of emigrating to England
Accompanying cassette available. Subjects: Memoir; Learner
Writings; Immigration Issues; Work / Career
Peppercorn / Avanti-Gatehouse, 1995,
0-906253-46-2, Paperback, 20 pgs, $6.00. |
Weeding Cane, Sonia Hughes
Description: from the catalog... A child
from the Caribbean rejoins her mother living in Britain. This
is a story of love and loss, separation and awkward reunion created
by economic necessity. Subjects: Fiction; International;
Immigration Issues
Peppercorn / Avanti-Gatehouse, 2001,
0-906253-87-X, Paperback, 38 pgs, $7.50. Level: 3-5. |
The Nina Stories
 
Why My Heart Aches - Haunting Memories: Book One
of Nina’s Story, Nina Yates
Description: In Why
My Heart Aches, Nina Yates tells the story of her early life in
Korea, of the harsh treatment she received and how she survived a
difficult childhood. "No matter how hard I tried to please my father
he was never satisfied. It was such a horrible feeling. I felt lonely
and rejected and not accepted for what I was. I started to dream that
some day I would get married. I would be so good to my children. I
would never beat them like my father did to me." An inspiring autobiography
written when Nina was a student at Read / Write / Now in Springfield,
MA. Illustrated with photos from Nina's early life. Subjects:
Memoir; International
Peppercorn
Books & Press Inc., 2002, 1-928836-12-7, Staple Bound, 42 pgs, 5 1/2
x 8 1/2, $7.50. Level: Intermediate.
Growing Up Dreaming and Never the Same: Book Two
of Nina’s Story, Nina Yates
Description: Nina tells
how she dated and married an American soldier. "I met Jim when he
brought me his clothes to sew. He was lonesome because he came from
far, far away. I was lonely and looking for someone to lessen the
struggles of my life. When we met we instantly liked each other."
Subjects: Memoir; International
Peppercorn
Books & Press Inc., 2002, 1-928836-13-5, Staple Bound, 42 pgs, 5 1/2
x 8 1/2, $7.50. Level: Intermediate.
Coming to Live in America / The Hardest Adjustment
I Ever Made: Book Three of Nina’s Story, Nina Yates
Description: After marriage
Nina moved to America with her husband Jim and her baby daughter.
Nina tells of her struggles to adapt to married life in Massachusetts,
while speaking little English. Subjects: Memoir; International
Peppercorn
Books & Press Inc., 2002, 1-928836-14-3, Staple Bound, 42 pgs, 5 1/2
x 8 1/2, $7.50. Level: Intermediate.
Eclipses of My Life: Book Four of Nina’s Story,
Nina Yates
Description: Nina tells
of her later life, her illness and later Jim's death. Subjects:
Memoir; International
Peppercorn
Books & Press Inc., 2002, 1-928836-15-1, Staple Bound, 42 pgs, 5 1/2
x 8 1/2, $. Level: Intermediate.
| From
East to West: Our Lives Series, Linh Hoa
Description:
From the catalog...Linh Hoa is a Chinese women who lived in Vietnam
until she was forced to flee with her family, first to Hong Kong
then to England. Linh tells her story from the days in Vietnam
to her progress through the refugee camp in Hampshire to her married
life in London where she is now happily settled with a family
of her own. Subjects: Memoir; International; Learner Writings
Peppercorn / Avanti-Croydon,
1987, 0-9516066-3-8, Paperback, 42 pgs, $6.00. Level: 8+. |
From
Sound to Silence: Our Lives Series, Asha Mohamed
Description:
From the catalog... This is the story of Rashida Abedi who came
to Britain from Pakistan in 1985 to find a cure for her profound
deafness. Only after a long campaign by her friends was she allowed
to stay. Her writing shows a remarkable degree of optimism for
the future. Also available in Urdu Subjects: Memoir; International;
Disability; International
Peppercorn / Avanti-Croydon,
2000, 0-9516066-5-4, Paperback, 45 pgs, $6.00. |
| The
Future Is Ours, Magdalena Hermanus
Description:
from the catalog... The story of a woman's journey through life.
Spanning 30 years, it covers her move from rural Transkei to Cape
Town and her growing awareness of the power of the women in her
community and how they work together to build up their community.
Subjects: Bios/Autobios; International
Peppercorn / Juta, , 0-7021-3845-2,
Paperback, 48 pgs, $5.00. Level: 5-8.
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Hard Soap and Curlers, Kath
Harris
Description: From the catalog... Memories
of going to the washhouse in the early 1960's, a social event
where you had a chance to gossip, as well as a necessity to wash
clothes. cassette available. Subjects: Fiction; International
Peppercorn / Avanti-Gatehouse,
1999, 0-906253-69-1, Paperback, 22 pgs, $6.00. |
| Looking
Forward: Our Lives Series, Inma Suarez
Description:
From the catalog... Inma Suarez came to England as an au pair,
speaking only Spanish. She went to English classes and there met
her future husband. Her story tells of how she married and after
having a baby, discovered she had leukemia. The rest of the book
deals with her battle against the disease. Subjects: Memoir;
Health; International; Learner Writings
Peppercorn / Avanti-Croydon,
1994, 0-9516066-4-6, Paperback, 40 pgs, $6.00. Level: 8+. |
Mary
Seacole: Black Leaders in the Freedom Struggle, Marie Stuart
Description:
Intended for more advanced literacy students. Mary Seacole was
a Black nurse from Jamaica who made her way to the Crimea in the
mid-1800s to serve those wounded in war. Subjects: Bios/Autobios;
International; History
Peppercorn / Central Bristol
AEC, 1990, 1-87311505-9, Paperback, 28 pgs, $7.00. |
| Nightingales
and Nice-Time Girls: The story of township women and music (1900-1960),
Minky Schlesinger
Description:
from the catalog...This book is the story of black women and music
in South Africa from the 1900s, when most African women still
worked in rural areas, to the 1950s when many women had moved
to the cities. Some of them had become famous performers in the
dance-halls of the townships. Read about the characters, musical
influences and tortured experience of the black South Africans
that led to the birth of unique South African musical sound. Includes
photographs and stories of famous stars including some, such as
Miriam Makeba, who became world famous. Subjects: Music;
International; History
Peppercorn / ViVa Books, 1993,
1-874932-06-9, Paperback, 84 pgs, $9.50. Level:8+. |
Our Experience:
Women from Somalia, Tanzania, Bangladesh and Pakistan Write about
Their Lives, Stella Fitzpatrick and Fatima Mumin, editors.
Description:
From the catalog... Women from Somalia, Tanzania, Bangladesh and
Pakistan write about their lives and experiences in their home
countries, and in Britain. We gain an insight into their home
cultures through lullabies, children's games, recipes and reminiscences.
Some sections of the book are translated into Somali, Ki-Swahili,
Bengali and Urdu. Photographs and drawings. Subjects: Memoir;
Learner Writings; International; Bilingual
Peppercorn / Avanti-Gatehouse,
1996, 0-906253-53-5, Paperback, 91 pgs, 6 x 8 1/4, $11.50. |
| Scarves
of Many Colors: Muslim Women and the Veil, Audiotapes
by Joan Bohorfoush, Diana Dickerson and Curriculum by Bill Bickerton,
Sandra Childs, Norm Diamond, Diana Dickerson, and Jan Haaken
Description: This award-winning
audiotape and an accompanying curriculum engage students in thinking
critically about stereotypes of "covered" Islamic women. The audiotape
introduces a range of U.S. and Middle Eastern women who tell stories
and offer insight. The curriculum offers four classroom-tested
lessons, including an excellent role play/tribunal on "Women and
the Veil," with accompanying student handouts. Ideal for Global
Studies, psychology, sociology, women's studies, world history,
or teacher education. “It's an excellent resource for helping
to dispell stereotyping of Muslim women.” -- Mary Ann Corley,
NIFL-Povracelit Moderator Subjects: Muslim; International
Teaching
for Change, 2000, Audio Cassette & Curriculum, 54 pgs, $15.00. |
A
Song for Carrying Water: and Other Stories from Somalia, Sian
Hughes and M.M. Affi, Eds.
Description:
Somali women delight in telling traditional folktales to their
children, and until now, these remarkable stories have been carried
around in their memories and passed down from generation to generation
through the spoken word only. Includes an information sheet for
use by teachers. Pictures & drawings.
Subjects: Folktales; Learner Writings; International
Peppercorn / Avanti-Gatehouse,
1997, 0-906253-59-4, Paperback, 105 pgs, 6 x 8 1/4, $11.50.
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| Standing
on My Own Two Feet: Our Lives Series, Faizia Zaman
Description:
From the catalog...Faizia Zaman, an immigrant from Bangladesh,
was left a widow with five children when her husband died suddenly.She
enrolled for English classes which helped her develop the confidence
to cope with life on her own. Subjects: Memoir; Learner
Writings; International; Education
Peppercorn / Avanti-Croydon,
1990, 0-9516066-1-1, Paperback, 47 pgs, $6.00. Level: 8+ |
Tandie's Blues,
M. Isaacson and M. Schlesinger
Description:
From the catalog...This is the life story of Tandie Klaasen, a
well known South African jazz singer. Born in 1931, she sang and
danced her way through the years until by the 1970s Tandie had
struggled to the top. She had been a gangster's girlfriend, a
domestic worker, and a stage actress, but now she was a star.
Then something happened that changed Tandie's whole life. Read
about Tandie's life of bad luck, how she picked herself up and
carried on and how her life of troubles led her to sing the blues.
Illustrated with black and white photos. Subjects: Bios/Autobios;
International; Music
Peppercorn / ViVa Books, 1995,
1-874932-, Paperback, 84 pgs, $8.50. |
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Weeding Cane, Sonia
Hughes
Description: from the catalog... A child
from the Caribbean rejoins her mother living in Britain. This
is a story of love and loss, separation and awkward reunion created
by economic necessity. Subjects: Fiction; International;
Immigration Issues
Peppercorn / Avanti-Gatehouse,
2001, 0-906253-87-X, Paperback, 38 pgs, $7.50. Level: 3-5. |
Yvonne
Chaka Chaka: Princess of Africa, Minky Schlesinger
Description:
From the catalog...In 1985 a shy young girl from Soweto recorded
a hit song, "I'm in Love with a DJ". It set the townships' feet
tapping. This young girl was Yvonne Chaka Chaka and since then
she has become a superstar. Read about her family, her school
friends and her rise to fame. In Africa, Yvonne is more popular
than Madonna, making her the "Princess of Africa". Illustrated
with black and white photos and drawings. Subjects: Bios/Autobios;
International; Music
Peppercorn / ViVa Books, 1993,
1-874932-02-6, Paperback, 52 pgs, $7.00. Level:5-8. |
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