Pacific Odyssey to California, 1905

The year is 1905, and, hoping for a better life, eleven-year-old Su-Na, her parents, and her two younger sisters have traveled from Korea to Hawaii. But life there is not all that they have expected. There is no school, and the low wages paid to immigrant laborers are barely enough to survive on, especially after a new baby is born. After a year in Hawaii, the family travels to the town of Riverside, California, where Su-Na and her sisters attend school while their father works as a fruit picker. But after two years during which Riverside begins to seem like home and another baby brother is born, their life is shattered by violence and prejudice. Once again the family must move, this time to the mining town of Idria. The work there is very dangerous, and Su-Na, now an independent, headstrong teenager with dreams of her own, constantly quarrels with her traditional parents. This was an excellent addition to the American Sisters series that brought to life the conflicts that exist in immigrant families, between the traditional parents and their increasingly Americanized children. I highly reccomend this book to young readers who enjoy historical novels, such as the Dear America series.