My Overflowing Book Basket, midsummer

Ask your library for this beautiful book, The Matchbox Diary, written by Paul Fleischman and illustrated by Bagram Ibatoulline (Candlewick Press). Open the book and be amazed at the feast of images, words, and memories. In this book, Great-grandfather asks his great-granddaughter to pick from a room filled with treasured objects, “what you like the most. Then I’ll tell you its story.”

Oh, I wish I could pick “what I like the most” at my grandparent’s home and then sit next to them as they told me its story. I am second-generation Czech-American. My grandfather was orphaned at 14. Alone he traveled from his home near Prague, walked to a northern German port (did he have a map, could he even read?) and then sailed to Ellis Island. From the giant city of New York City, somehow, he traveled to relatives in Indiana and then westward to Iowa, finally settling in Illinois near Chicago. My grandfather farmed, never learned English, and raised two sons who became leaders and educators. The gift of immigrants. They bring their courage, hope, and hard work to create a good life for their family. In this book, we sit next to this grandfather and open his diary of matchboxes, each holding a treasured memory, each telling the story of immigration.

Ask someone you know who is an immigrant or the child of an immigrant to tell you their story. Listen to this precious gift.