The Long Way to a New Land

Summary:
There was no rain fall all one summer when Carl Erick's father received a letter from Uncle Axel from America. Carl Erick's father informs the family that they are going to America. They ride a train to Liverpool then took a steamboat to America. While on the steamboat some of the passengers got sick, and one passenger died, Carl Erick's father was given a book of English phrases written by a Swedish passenger on the boat. The family arrives in America and the father, whose name is Anders gets a job, and plans to build a house soon.

Reaction:
I enjoyed the story and the pictures of the story. I thought the pictures did a very good job at showing the family at many different stages throughout their journey. The setting of the story was on a train, and a steamboat as the family traveled to America. The character of the father, Anders is a loving father and husband that is trying to provide for his family. He sees the only way to do that is to travel to America. I found it difficult to relate to this story because I have never moved in my life.

Extension Ideas:
1.The story can be an introduction to a unit on immigration.
2.The story shows the hardships immigrants went through coming to America.
3.The story shows two different ways immigrants traveled to America.

A fine choice for an early reader. Sandin tells about a fictional family from Sweden immigrating to the US. It's not one I consider a must-read, but it is a good book to check out from the library.

This is a tale of a Swedish family in 1868 that got the chance to migrate to America to begin a new life.

This is definetly a good story to teach children how many families had to struggle to survive and how our ancestry came from other countries.

I would tell this story and try to have the children imagine where their families may have come from.

340L,GRL L,GL 3.3,2 copies

340L,GRL L,GL 3.3,2 copies