This Is Me: A Story of Who We Are and Where We Came From

K-Gr 1—Many children have family members who have immigrated to the United States, and many have had an occasion to fill an overnight bag. Here, a teacher whose great-grandmother came from afar asks her young students to imagine packing a suitcase when you must leave behind most of what you love and care about. "How would you know/in this case what to pack/and that once you had left/there'd be no coming back?" The full meaning of that question and the leap from the experience of a parent or grandparent to oneself are likely to be difficult for the book's audience. While children will relate to the diverse characters' full-of-stuff rooms and the items they choose to pack (dolls, "a first-in-line-ticket" to a Katy Perry show, LEGOs, a camera, a karate gi), their responses undermine the gravity of the question and the plight and flight of many who have come to the United States. Ultimately, the book delivers a positive spin on immigration, while throwing in a few additional messages, including that your suitcase may be "your own history book" but it is not who you are or will be. Cornell's opening watercolor images of an émigré family are rendered in delicate muted sepia tones, while the contemporary scenes blossom into full detail and color. The last spread features a foldout suitcase, ready for the filling.