Suburban Mosaic
Suburban Mosaic
Book of the Year
2008 theme:
Living Between Cultures

The 2008 Suburban Mosaic titles build upon last year’s theme of immigration.  Each of the selections, in some way, focuses on the characters finding their identity by living between cultures.

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The Other Side by Jacqueline Woodson

The Other Side
By Jacqueline Woodson
Kindergarten - 2nd Grade
Two girls, on white and one black, gradually get to know each other as they sit on the fence that divides their town.

Discussion questions

The Year of the Dog
By Grace Lin
3rd Grade - 5th Grade
Frustrated by her seeming lack of talent for anything, a young Taiwanese American girl sets out to apply the lessons of the Chinese Year of the Dog, those of making best friends and finding oneself, to her own life. 

Discussion questions

The Year of the Dog by Grace Lin

American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang

American Born Chinese
By Gene Luen Yang
Middle School
This graphic novel alternates three interrelated stories about the problems of young Chinese Americans trying to participate in popular culture.

Discussion questions

Persepolis
By Marjane Satrapi
High School
This autobiography tells the story of Satrapi’s early life as a girl in late 1970s and early 1980s Iran.  Through her young eyes, the reader sees the overthrow of the Shah, the Islamic fundamentalist rise to power, and the war with Iraq.

Discussion questions

Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi

Digging to America by Anne Tyler

Digging to America
By Anne Tyler
Adult
When American couple Bitsy and Brad Donaldson and Iranian-American couple Sami and Ziba Yazdan both adopt Korean infant girls, their chance encounter at the Baltimore airport the day their daughters arrive marks the start of a long, intense, and sometimes awkward friendship.  A penetrating light on the American way as seen from two perspectives, those who are born here and those who are still struggling to fit in.

Discussion questions


 
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