The Fourth of July is a day intended to unite us, all of us, this nation founded and enriched by immigrants from all over the world.
We may sometimes look different, sound different and believe different things, but we are Americans, all of us.
Nowhere is our diversity celebrated more joyously than it is in modern literature, so volunteers from the Tucson Festival of Books were invited to suggest some books to help us celebrate the many unique journeys that have led us all here to the United States.
“Solito” by Tucsonan Javier Zamora is a remarkable memoir recounting Zamora’s 3,000-mile journey from El Salvador to the United States. Alone. At the age of 9. One of last year’s most honored works of nonfiction, Zamora’s story helps us understand the desperation and vulnerability of those approaching our southern border today. — Margie Farmer
“If I Survive You” by Jonathan Escoffery is a collection of interconnected stories that follow a family of Jamaican immigrants trying to make their way in Miami. The book features Trelawny, the younger son, who struggles to understand just who he is and how he fits in in America. — Emily Walsh
“The American Way” by Helene Stapinski and Bonnie Siegler reminds us how the American dream could come true in the years following World War II. It features Jules Schulback, Siegler’s grandfather. He had fled Nazi Germany for the U.S. Siegler remembered him as a teller of tall tales until she discovered one of them was true. Schulback had, indeed, taken the iconic photo of Marilyn Monroe with her white dress billowing on a New York street. Wait, there’s more! — Thea Chalow
“The Candid Life of Meena Dave” by Namrata Patel is the story of an adopted woman in her 30s who mysteriously inherits a Boston apartment and makes discoveries about herself through friendships with her new neighbors. She learns there is the family you’re born with and the one you choose for yourself. This is a beautiful peek into the culture of India and Indian-American history. — Jeiza Quinones Ivory
“Crying In H Mart” by Michelle Zauner has now spent 64 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list because it is a tale that resonates with so many of us who struggle to find their place in the world around them. Herself Korean and one of the few Asian Americans in her Oregon schools, Zauner reflects on her journey, and the steps she now knows were the ones that mattered. — Sara Hammond
“All My Rage” by Sabaa Tahir captured last year’s National Book Award for young persons’ literature. Written for young adults, it a story of two young Pakistani immigrants as they navigate family, forgiveness, love and loss in the small desert town of Juniper, California. – Emily Walsh
“Killers of the Flower Moon” by David Grann reads like a novel but is a deeply researched work of history about a series of Oklahoma murders in the 1920s. The victims were Osage, all of them owners of land where oil had been discovered. As the death toll rose, a new government agency called the FBI took up the search for a killer … or killers. First published in 2017, the book has been re-released in anticipation of a movie adaptation scheduled for release in October. — Abby Mogollon
“Better Living Through Birding” by Christian Cooper may not be a book you’d always consider, but consider this: The author is the Black birdwatcher who became the center of a cultural firestorm one morning in Central Park. Cooper’s American moment came in May 2020, when a white woman who was walking her dog called the police – falsely saying Cooper had threatened her. “Better Living” is not a story about that, but instead is a memoir and travelogue detailing Cooper’s love of nature … and how much we could learn from birds if we would only look and listen. — Abby Mogollon
“Ander and Santi Were Here” by Jonny Garza Villa features a nonbinary teen who has decided to take a gap year before college to paint beautiful murals in his community. He befriends and eventually falls for an undocumented boy who comes to work at the family restaurant. — Jessica Pryde
“66 on 66” by Terrence Moore is a picture book for history buffs, a collection of 66 stunning photographs Moore has taken of the people and places along Route 66. Still a symbol of Americana, Route 66 extends from the Santa Monica Pier in Los Angeles to the Institute of Art in Chicago. The 2,448 miles in between? That’s where America lives. — Lynn Wiese Sneyd
“The Wind Knows My Name” by Isabel Allende explores the sacrifices that parents must sometimes make to protect their kids. The book is framed by two immigrant children. The first is Samuel Adler, a 5-year-old traveling alone from Germany to England in 1938. The second features Anita Diaz, a 7-year-old fleeing El Salvador for the U.S. in 2019 only to be separated from her mother in Nogales. — Bill Finley
The Fourth of July is undoubtedly the biggest day for fireworks in the United States.
