The Eliza Cabot Follen Library, tucked in next to the Community Center, has a book for you!

Anne E., from the Follen Library Team, recommends three books on the topic of immigration.

Three memoirs outline three journeys to this country from different parts of the world, at different life stages: Dear America: Notes of an Undocumented Citizen, by Jose Antonio Vargas; Solito: A Memoir, by Javier Zamora; and Asylum: A Memoir & Manifesto, by Edafe Okporo.

• Born in the Philippines and brought to the U.S. as a 12-year-old, Jose Antonio Vargas is a Pulitzer prize– winning journalist whose Dear America: Notes of an Undocumented Citizen (2019) looks at migration and citizenship and what it means when the country you call your home doesn’t consider you one of its own.
• Solito: A Memoir (2022) is a best-selling account of Javier Zamora’s 3,000-mile journey as a 9-year-old traveling by himself with a group of strangers from his small town in El Salvador. Cary Library recorded a conversation with the author.
• Asylum: A Memoir & Manifesto (2022), by global gay rights and immigration activist Edafe Okporo, documents his experiences growing up gay in Nigeria and fleeing for his life while also arguing for a just immigration system for refugees everywhere.

Find these titles in our online catalog or on the shelf in the Follen Library!