Ruth Conniff
Refugee High: Coming of Age in America (The New Press), by Elly Fishman, tells the story of four teenagers from four different countries—Iraq, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Guatemala, and Myanmar—who land at Roger C. Sullivan High School in Chicago, home to more refugee students than any other high school in Illinois. Principal Chad Adams and Sarah Quintenz, the big-hearted, foul-mouthed director of the school’s English Language Learners program, share a vision of Sullivan as a welcoming place for new American teens, supporting and challenging them to succeed in their new country.
Elly Fishman spent the 2017–2018 school year at Sullivan, following the teenagers and their families, teachers, and friends. That year happened to coincide with one of the worst global refugee crises in history as well as a massive increase in pressure on immigrants in the United States from President Donald Trump’s aggressive policies and escalating public hostility.
You can’t help but root for the kids in this book, who struggle to overcome trauma and dislocation as well as the common heartaches of adolescence—and the terrible reality that the violence and poverty that caused them to flee their countries still stalk them like a recurring nightmare in Chicago.
As Alejandro, who witnessed his best friend’s murder by gangs in Guatemala and fled before he met the same fate, awaits his asylum hearing, his classmate is shot by gang members near Sullivan. Shahina resists her parents’...
Read Full Story: https://progressive.org/magazine/favorite-books-of-2021/
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