One Good Thing About America

One Good Thing About America

Juvenile fiction
"Dear Oma,
We go to my new school today. It is very BIG. Mama and me and Jean-
Claude walk from the motel and find school. Mama write and write many
papers for the school..."
Anais, protagonist of Ruth Freeman's One Good Thing About
America, is making a much bigger adjustment than most kids changing
schools. She and her mother and little brother have immigrated from a
war torn African nation. The hotel they live in is a shelter.
For Anais English is a serious challenge. So much besides
language is also new: food, clothing, living in a city, holidays,
customs...even weather.
"...I looked and was thinking it was only a little feather
falling down. From a city bird. But then more white things were
falling. What is this, I said. Mama said it was snow. SNOW?..."
And she has more worries than most nine-year-olds. Her father and
older brother, are still in their home country, fleeing from the
military.
Anais' story is told in a series of letters to her beloved
grandmother who is also still in Africa. Oma wants her to say one
good thing about America in each letter. Sometimes it is very hard.
And sometimes it is easy, as when she first experiences Halloween
Trick Or Treat.
"...it was like a good dream! A best dream ever! So many kinds
of candy..."
Author Freeman was so impressed with an ELL (English Language
Learning) class she made an author's visit to that she went back to
school for a Masters in teaching and ELL certification. She now
teaches in an elementary school. In her author's note she tells us:
"In writing this story, I wanted to give readers a glimpse of
what it is like for a brand new student to arrive in an American
school from another culture. I hope readers will see that newcomers
who are trying to navigate life at school have often left family and
friends at home in their native country. Some have gone through a lot
of hardship to get here. They have so much to learn and to process
while they are still children..."
In a country where the president demonizes immigrants One Good
Thing About America should be in all school and and public libraries.
On a purrrsonal note, well I have some AWESOME news!!! I talked to
my advisor and she agreed that I should take the second statistics
class spring semester and that I should have an assessment
concentration. Remember when you were a kid and you had one thing you
wanted more than ANYTHING ELSE for Christmas or your birthday or
something and you got it? That's how I felt. I've managed to keep my
exercise up for a week. That's my pathetic pandemic best. Let's see
how I'm doing a week from now. (Jules)
My hooman is very happy. She talked to a little person in her zoom
box and acted like someone gave her tuna and nip. Hoomans are hard to
figure out. (Tobago)
A great big shout out goes out to my advisor.
Tobago and Jules Hathaway


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