Does anyone have suggestions? I'm doing a small-scale mass release of these... and I've got about 5 so far....but I'm looking into the genre in hopes of having a bit more selection.... I also want to have different cultures, so I have Scottish, Italian, English, Chinese, and Pennsylvania Dutch (Mennonite) so far... I've got a Russian one in mind, as well as another British one... I'm especially looking for a Jewish one at this point (to relate to something specific in the spot where I will be releasing). Thoughts or ideas, anyone?

What about a American one? :lol: I know a lot of young men went to Canada during the Vietnam War. :wink:

lol, do you know of one, cheesy?

The ones I have are

No Great Mischief (Scottish)
In a Glass House (Italian)
A Prairie as Wide as the Sea (English)

The Chinese one, An Ocean Apart, isn't registered yet but it's part of the same set as A Prairie as Wide as the Sea. The PD one is The Trail of the Conestoga, but I need to register it too (although I've bookcrossed a couple copies in the past... but I need to dig out a new one for this). The Russian one I can think of is another Mennonite story, Days of Terror, but I need to obtain a copy of that too. Also, I'm worried that I'm getting a lot of kids books... but it will be in a park during the summer, so maybe that's okay...

I was thinking of using a copy of Underground to Canada as well... it's about slaves coming here via the underground railway.... but again with the kids books... (that would make the PD, English, Chinese, Russian, and slave stories all children's books).

In the Skin of a Lion and a book of short stroies called Natasha jumped to my mind but I don't know if that's what you're looking for....Natasha was a Canada Reads pick from one of the earlier rounds, I think.

ETA: Natasha is by David Bezmozgis and was from 2007 and In the Skin of a Lion was also a Canada Reads....I'm easily confused....

thanks Bree, I'll look 'em up :)

I think I've added this one to the list:

Underground to Canada

Just to keep this up-to-date, I've added these to the list as well:


An Ocean Apart (Chinese)
Days of Terror (Russian)


There's another one I have to dig out and register which puts me up to 7. I think I need 14. I'm looking to buy another 1 specific book, which would make it 8... I'm currently looking for one about African immigration to Canada, and I am finding absolutely nothing. Sigh. Frustration.

Are you looking for stories of difficult times that ultimately end happily? Kindof the feel-good immigrant genre of "we've moved to Canada, and it was tough at first, but we're so glad we're here"? I'm just curious. Immigrant stories are possibly one of my favourite genres (if it can be considered so.) I noticed you don't have a Japanese story yet, but the one that pops to my mind first (Obasan by Joy Kogawa) isn't exactly a feel-good story.

How about


Two Lands, New Visions: Stories from Canada and Ukraine

I'm not necessarily looking for feel-good stories...

See, the city next to mine is called Kitchener. It was started by my 4th great grandfather a little over 200 years ago. At the beginning of the summer, I was spending every Friday afternoon in Kitchener with my best friend. We live in different towns which aren't really far apart but aren't very accessible from each other either, if you don't drive/have a car available. He was working in Kitchener-- which is a relatively short/cheap bus ride from here-- for a few weeks, so we figured we'd take advantage of the opportunity to see each other on a regular basis and do lunch/spend some time together every Friday. Anyway, we started walking through/hanging out in what was my favourite park when I was little. It's also the home of a multicultural festival every summer, and they've recently redone a section of the park as a tribute to the region's multicultural/immigrant community. It has fountains and a garden some interactive art type stuff... there are various pieces of luggage (made of concrete or some such thing) from different eras etc and some of them have bronze luggage tags on them. There are also some without tags, and there are various tags on rocks etc in the garden. On each tag is a quote from a person from the region about why they chose to come here, etc. The whole area just screamed at me to leave books there, and at the time I was reading A Prairie as Wide as the Sea and wondering how to pass it on...

So, one afternoon I scouted out the park in more detail... and found that there are 4 suitcases with tags, 7 tags alone, and 3 suitcases alone. I figured I'd try to find an immigrant story that related to each quote, and a few extras for the untagged luggage. They don't HAVE to be happy stories (In a Glass House isn't very happy.... especailly if you read the entire trilogy it's part of), but so far I've ended up with a lot of kids/YA books. That's partially because I'm more familiar with them, and partially because I have them anyway (I don't like to bookcross anything I haven't read, so the fact that I've read them already helps, lol).... and while I don't mind some adult books being included I don't really want things that are too graphic (one quote deals with WW2 and all that badness) as there's a high volume of children running about the park at this time of year.

I did actually think of Obasan, but I wasn't sure if it was an immigration story, or if it was just the treatment of Japanese-Canadians back in the day. I don't mean to downplay that by saying "just"... but I mean, I didn't know if it was about immigrants or about born-Canadians of a specific ethnic group, if that makes sense.


Hobbit, I'm not familiar with the one you suggested, but I will definitely look it up. And see how readily available it is in these parts, what the price is, etc.

One of the quotes specifically mentions Africa ("coming to Canada as a refugee from Africa I love the country and its diversity. The snow is another issue..."), which is why I'm looking for an African book.

I've got a book to match 7 of the 11 luggage tags now, and books in mind for 2 of the remaining 4 tags. I've also got 1 for an untagged bag.


I added this one to the list tonight: Alone in an Untamed Land (French)

I bought a copy of The Shipping News today... I'm not sure if I'll use it or not, but that guy immigrates from NYC...

I'm going book shopping tomorrow to look for some more... I'm going to a store a couple towns over that I don't usually get to, so I'm excited :dance:

If you want some Children's or YA there are the Dear Canada series that has many Canadian stories, many of them are Immigration stories. There is one on the Filles de Roi for sure.

It does discuss the lives of both those who came to Canada from Japan (the Issei) and their Canadian-born children (Niisei). I'd offer you my copy to release, but I donated it to my Women's Studies instructor because she uses that book as a text in her Introduction to Women's Studies 100 course, and I wanted to be sure it would be read and safe :wink:

If I think of any others, or if I find any others, I'll run them past you, and send them along, if you're interested!

Aw, thanks GateGypsy :)

boomda, I'm quite a fan of the Dear Canada series :) I have the filles du roi one for release (and my own copy too, actually-- it's 'Alone in an Untamed Land"). I also have an English Immigrant one, from the immigration boom of the 20s (A Prairie as Wide as the Sea) and the Gold Mountain diary, which is a Chinese immigration story (An Ocean Apart).

I think I'm going to use The Shipping News, and on that book shopping trip I mentioned, I brought a child-appropriate Jewish immigration book, Home Free.

I plan to pick up A War Bride's Story on Saturday (I checked every bookstore in the Chapters-Coles-Smithbooks-Indigo chain within 100k, as well as some indies, and I can only find 2 copies, both at a store in Oakville... so I'm going to work with my dad and we're stopping in there afterwards). I still can't seem to get my hands on an African immigrant/refugee story though...

I think by Saturday I will have 11 of the 14 I need. Does anyone know anything about a book called In Another Place, Not Here? I've found the same little blurb over and over again, but I'm still unclear as to whether or not it's an immigrant story.