Adi Alsaid

This exceptional and powerful anthology explores the joys, heartbreaks and triumphs of immigration, with stories by bestselling and beloved YA authors who are themselves immigrants and the children of immigrants. WELCOME From some of the most exciting bestselling and up-and-coming YA authors writing today...journey from Ecuador to New York City and Argentina to Utah, from Australia to Harlem and India to New Jersey, from Fiji, America, Mexico and more... Come On In. With characters who face random traffic stops, TSA detention, customs anxiety, and the daunting and inspiring journey to new lands, who camp with their extended families, dance at weddings, keep diaries, teach ESL, give up their rooms for displaced family, decide their own answer to the question "where are you from?" and so much more, Come On In illuminates fifteen of the myriad facets of the immigrant experience.

Come on in

4.75/5 A powerful and beautiful collection of young adult short stories.  

Not every story in here is worth this rating but the ones that are so, so good, I just had to round it up. Even the ones that fell short for me still held powerful messages within them and it felt wrong to give such an important book anything less.

In summary, this is an anthology of stories written about immigration from young characters’ perspective. It discusses the experiences of people moving countries, how their family’s immigration has altered their current life and how it affects people when governments decide to turn against them. 

 all the colours of goodbye by nafiza azad  ★★★★★

The writing in this story was just simply *chef’s kiss*. It’s the story of a teenager saying goodbye to where he grew up, probably for good and leaving part of his family behind. It’s beautiful and mournful and one of my favourites. 

 the wedding by sara farizan  ★★★★★

First thing to note about  The Wedding  is the main character is bisexual! Anyway, this was such an insightful piece done in such a lighthearted manner. The plot is formed simply by a family wedding and the typical interactions that weddings feature but unfortunately, this wedding had to happen in Canada so all the family could attend. There’s discussions about racial profiling and gender expectations and it’s funny and honest. 

 where i'm from by misa sugiura  ★★★★★

 Where I’m From  is a collection of moments across a character’s life regarding her experiences with culture and racism as an asian-american. Each one is so carefully crafted in their meaning and it was great in its education and insights. 

 salvation and the sea by lilliam rivera  ★★★☆☆

Unfortunately, this story did not work for me as well as the others. The characters felt vague and the plot of visiting ‘Salvation Mountain’ felt just as loose and empty. The story didn’t feel real and I think that took away a lot of its power. However, there were moments and phrases that made my heart sink and for those, I will remain with my 3 star rating. 

 volviéndome by alaya dawn johnson  ★★★★☆

I believe this story is autobiographical? Or at the very least inspired by the author’s own life. It’s more of a life in snapshots than a story within itself but it discusses the experience of returning to where you were born when you have found your home somewhere else. And what it felt like moving to that place originally. It’s really beautiful in its discussions and stories, I just feel that it could’ve done with a little more focus. 

 the trip by sona charaipotra  ★★★★★

 The Trip  fully and unequivocally broke my heart. It’s about a 16 year old going on a trip with her school when she’s pulled aside by aeroplane security because of where she was born, a place she left when was 2 years old. She begins the story thinking of her crush but by the end of it she only cares about being able to hear her mum’s voice again. It was heartbreaking in its simplicity and just truly exposed how brutally horrible racial profiling is.

 the curandera and the alchemist by maria e. andreu  ★★★★☆

This one was the first to make me cry. It's about a girl who joins an English tutoring group where they pair adults and students. This is where she meets Florencio, a man considered to be an illegal immigrant. Their friendship is really beautiful while the story also discusses the discriminatory treatment of anyone who doesn’t speak English fluently. 

 a bigger tent by maurene goo  ★★★☆☆

 A Bigger Tent’s focuses is family. The main character returns from a summer spent in London to her large, often suffocating family. We follow her as she is forced to partake in a big family camping trip and comes to remember how important they are to her. For me personally, I couldn’t always sympathise with the main character which made it a little hard to love this story as much as the others. 

 first words by varsha bajaj  ★★★★☆ (4.5)

Priya and her family move to America for the sake of her little brother Rishi who was born with a hearing impairment. Her mother worries and worries about how her little boy is doing in school but it turns out that Priya is the one struggling to interact with this new environment. Something about Priya’s experience really spoke to me in this story and her feelings stuck with me in a powerful way. 

 family/everything by yamile saied méndez ★★★★☆ 

 Family / Everything  is about our main character (Ayelén)’s experience of leaving her home country of Argentina to study in America. We follow her through her last day with her family, dealing with her relatives’ varying opinions on her choice to go as well as her own feelings about having to leave the family and culture that she feels at home in behind. It was a really beautiful story and it truly encaptured the importance of family the most from this collection. 

when i was white by justine larbalestier ★★★★☆ (3.5)

 When I Was White  is the only historical piece in this book and it was definitely an interesting read. We follow an australian girl called Dulcie as she joins Joshua P. Desmond Irving the Third who takes her back to New York with him. The story only really picked up for me towards the second half of this story where we meet the rest of Joshua’s family and learn about the black culture of 1930s New York. The first half felt vague and confusing and I felt that damaged the story as a whole. 

 from golden state by isabel quintero ★☆☆☆☆ 

I feel so terrible rating anything this low but I’m sorry I found nothing I liked about this piece. It felt more like a character description and backstory than a plot as a whole, jumping to the different places in the timeline with no warning and no clear need. This absolutely could’ve worked if I gained any attachment to the characters but unfortunately, I didn’t, they remained very one dimensional to me. 

 hard to say by sharon morse ★★★★★ 

God, I adored this story. Val has lived in America nearly all her life, having only a few hazy memories of her birthplace Venezuela. She’s all but forgotten her first language, Spanish, something that becomes an all more vital loss when her Ito and Ita move in with her and family.. Her Ita and Ito barely speak English and suddenly the house is filled with Spanish as the rest of Val’s family interact. The story follows Val as she begins to feel isolated by the sudden language barrier in her home and as her family begin to realise what’s wrong and reach out to connect with her. It’s so, so beautiful and I beg you to read it. 

 confessions of an ecuadorkian by zoraida córdova ★★★☆☆ 

 Confessions of an Ecuadorkian  reminded me a lot of my experiences in school, following Paola as she finds her little band of misfits at school and deals with the discrimination that they face from others together. It was heartwarming and I loved all the characters but I do feel there was a lot packed in such a small amount of words and I feel it would’ve suited a novel format better (a novel I would absolutely love to read). 

 feeling, leaving, moving by adi alsaid  ★★★★☆

This final story was a great ending note for the collection, following Shmuli as he travels back to the U.S. from Argentina. He reflects back on his family’s experiences travelling across borders, right back to his grandmother fleeting Syria. It got a little confusing flicking between the timelines of history but overall, it was a beautiful piece, emotional and inspiring. 

 Representation  
As you can probably guess this book has amazing representation, it covers so many different ethnic minorities in its characters and authors. Also, there's a couple of pieces with LGBTQ+ representation that made me so happy. As well as representation of someone with a hearing impairment. 

 Content Warnings  
Racism - throughout
Bullying - occasional

Tatiana Alvarez 

Come On In is an collection of short stories written by a variety of authors who share their experiences with immigration. Each story is unique and encompasses a variety of experiences, but also expresses the shared feelings of doubt, uncertainty, and bravery, all while answering the question "Where are you from?" Which, by the way, is never okay to ask someone and assume that just because this person has black or brown skin, it automatically equates to being born somewhere rather than the US.

I'm a Mexican-American woman who was born in raised in Texas, but have family members that migrated to the United States for the same reason many other families migrate - for a better life and greater opportunities. I know my family members as they are now - grandparents, older aunts and uncles - so their story has changed slightly over the years because of life experience and maturity. So for me, it was incredible to see these similar stories through the eyes of young adults and how they navigate the world.

Obviously the topic is immigration and what I love most about this anthology is the fact that it takes many different experiences from a variety of backgrounds. With a topic such as this, I feel like this is the only way to talk about immigration in a way that reflects Own Voices for more people. Every story is different and unique and people face different hardships.

One of the stories that stuck with me the most was "Salvation and the Sea." Title alone shows an important metaphor, but I thoroughly enjoyed the characters. Both girls were are Puerto Rican, and even if they were similar in a lot of ways, they still had different backgrounds and upbringings. Leticia and her family faced constant fear and scrutiny by simply living in the US. This was put to the test when the girls had to pass through a border checkpoint to get to their destination. The way Leticia deals with the interaction is very different than how her friend deals with it - even though the patrolman didn't see a difference.

Overall this book is educational, emotional, and a journey from start to finish.

This exceptional and powerful anthology explores the joys, heartbreaks and triumphs of immigration, with stories by critically acclaimed and bestselling YA authors who are shaped by the journeys they and their families have taken from home—and to find home. WELCOME From some of the most exciting bestselling and up-and-coming YA authors writing today…journey from Ecuador to New York City and Argentina to Utah…from Australia to Harlem and India to New Jersey…from Fiji, America, Mexico and more… Come On In. With characters who face random traffic stops, TSA detention, customs anxiety, and the daunting and inspiring journey to new lands…who camp with their extended families, dance at weddings, keep diaries, teach ESL…who give up their rooms for displaced family, decide their own answer to the question “where are you from?” and so much more… Come On In illuminates fifteen of the myriad facets of the immigrant experience, from authors who have been shaped by the journeys they and their families have taken from home—and to find home.

15 Stories about Immigration and Finding Home

Come On In

Leelynn Brady

Find this review and more on my blog Sometimes Leelynn Reads 

Disclaimer: I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. Thank you to Hear Our Voices Book Tours, Netgalley, and Inkyard Press for this free copy. All quotes in this review are taken from the Advanced Reader Copy and may change in final publication.

Usually I review an anthology as a whole, and my rating is an average of how I felt about all the stories together, but for this one I would like to focus more on a specific story. I decided to do this because I had the opportunity to interview Misa Sugiura, and this story had a special connection to me as someone part-Japanese.

The one thing about the short stories in anthologies is that: THEY ARE TOO SHORT! Yes, that’s is the point of anthologies, and yes, we all know that it’s going to be full of short stories from your favorite and new-to-you authors, but man if I wasn’t craving more from Misa Sugiura after reading WHERE I’M FROM. There were so many experiences in that story that I’ve either experienced firsthand, or have heard my family go through. I could feel the emotion in each scene, and there was a part of me that almost felt ashamed. No, it was full shame, because there were instances where the main character Eriko would have a blunt, almost harsh opinion about her Japanese classmate in 8th grade that it just broke my heart. I can’t lie and say that there wasn’t a time where I agreed with Eriko, and thought that it was okay to not be “that kind” of Japanese, the “kind” that was born and raised there, that recently moved to the United States and had to assimilate into American life or risk being lost in the shuffle. Like being “that kind” of Japanese was wrong, or not as good.

“But I felt even sorrier for myself. Miho was exactly the kind of person that I feared everyone saw when they looked at me: weird, awkward, foreign. Japanese.”

Guardian Angel
It hurts that Eriko and Miho were made to believe that being Japanese was wrong. That it was not desirable or worth being treated like a human being.

To think that I was ever ignorant enough to think that makes me extremely disappointed in my younger self. But it also makes me proud that I was able to mature and grow and realize that nothing is wrong with being who you are, where you’re from. Absolutely nothing. And for those that aim to make you feel worthless because of it, they aren’t worth your time or energy. It’s hard to ignore hurtful things that people say about you, whether they are valid or completely unfounded, but it’s the way that we react to those things, and how we carry ourselves moving forward that will determine the kind of people we are. People pay attention to how you treat others, and as long as you know that you treat people with respect and dignity, even if they don’t extend that same courtesy to you, then you are doing the right thing. You are going to be okay.

I cried while reading this story, and by the time this was over, I was proud to be Japanese again. I like to think that I was always proud to be what I am, all ethnicities, all races, everything about me. But then I remember that people made me feel inadequate, stupid, wrong because of what I am. Because I wasn’t like them. I don’t ever want to feel that way again. I don’t ever want anyone to make me feel that way again. And I never want anyone else to feel that way, and even though I can’t stop the world, I can still do what I can to make sure that those around me are always proud to be who they are. Unapologetically them.

Pamela Alvarado

I’m not crying, you are.

Thanks to the incredible team at Hear Our Voices Book Tours I had the chance to read and review Come On In, an anthology that I feel is the epitome of show, not tell, when it comes to diverse cultural experiences.

There is something very special about reading so much truth in one place. And this all really resonated with me, specially after talking with Zoraida -a contributing author to his anthology-. In our interview (you can watch it at the end of this review), she mentioned the importance of every writer telling their own truths, and how that, is the most authentic way to write.

I’m big big fan of fantasy, and magic, and everything, you know, not of this world. Even in those stories we can always find that grain of truth, the core of what the authors are trying to tell us.

But there’s something to say about stories that are raw, undilluted and stripped down to that core message. The message being just… This is us. This is this experience. This is how we live, how our parents have lived… This is what happened to me, this is what’s happening to our families, and people we know. This is what we see in the news… Do you see now?

Do you see us?

Even though the characters in this book are from different backgrounds and have different cultures, I found it beautiful, in a sad sort of way, that we all share these questions. We all share the struggles. I feel like anyone can find something to relate to in this story, because we all either have been there, or know someone who has.

I was reading and the themes of family, leaving home, finding home… these themes are universal. So I do feel like this is the kind of book everyone might enjoy.

From the beginning, I was hooked. The first story is so full of vivid imagery that made me feel so much for the girl who didn’t understand why her family was moving away, why she had to leave the only home, the only people she’d ever known, and why her brother had to stay behind. Gosh, that was heartbreaking.

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My thoughts on 'Confessions of an Ecuadorkian' by Zoraida Córdova

Confessions of an Ecuadorkian is the short story Zoraida contributed with to the anthology. When we talked about Come On In, I hadn't read it yet, but I can tell you I appreciated this one so much.

The story is told by an ecuadorian teenager called Paola, who tells us about how she ruined her sister's quinceañera party (that was awesome! I laughed so much!) through a diary entry in which she's reflecting on what happened, and how she got there.

For starters, I loved Paola's voice. It was funny, and fresh, and I was right there with her getting so angry on her behalf because the people around her didn't get what was going on with her. I also felt so happy that she found friends she could be herself with!

At first glance, it might sound simple? But the path of how Paola got to the point of ruining a party is filled with friendship breakups, questions about what does it mean to now be a citizen in the United States, family dynamics...

The story isn't really about immigration, but the experience is there, woven in the tale.

And I find this really interesting because I'm ecuadorian, but Paola's life is a little different from mine, in the sense that she was raised in the U.S. while I was raised in Ecuador. Even so, I could connect with so many of the things she was going through! Some aren't even ecuadorian-specific, or latina-specific, but just the general state of being a teenager and human!

After all, who hasn't gone through the painful experience of realizing one of your closest friends suddenly isn't anymore? Who hasn't felt like they don't quite belong in the place they're in?  Who hasn't felt like lashing out when they're angry and confused?

Then there's the little things, like the fact that EVERY quinceañera needs the song Tiempo de Vals. I have a nightmares about that song, I kid you not.

Also, the fact that Paola's family lives in one building, but one part lives in an apartment above, and the others downstairs. I mean? That's such an ecuadorian thing. I used to live with my parents in a house where my grandparents lived above us. My current house is being built so that in the future, my sister and I can both live here but each with our living spaces as well... In general, I feel like ecuadorians and latin americans like to stick together.

Anyway, back to the story. Paola paints us a picture of her life through the lens of someone who is figuring things out, and making some mistakes along the way. Zoraida shows us that struggle, but also leaves us feeling hopeful about her future. Even though it's a short story, by the end, it does feel like Paola has learned something. She even starts embracing a term like Ecuadorkian, which had been used as a weapon against her before, as an insult.

Now she's Ecuadorkian and proud, and I'm proud of her as well.

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This book made me so emotional and I hope you have the chance to read it soon! It’s literally, an invitation for everyone to COME ON IN and learn a bit more about different people peopleing.

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Check out the rest of the Come On In Tour stops at Hear Our Voices Book Tours

Come on in

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