I Was Dreaming to Come to America: Memories from the Ellis Island Oral History Project

by Veronica Lawlor, Rudolph W. Giuliani (Foreword by)

In their own words, immigrants recall their arrival in the United States. Includes brief biographies and facts about the Ellis Island Oral History Project.In their own words, coupled with hand-painted collage illustrations, immigrants recall their arrival in the United States. Includes brief biographies and facts about the Ellis Island Oral History Project.

Genres: Picture Books, Cultural, Nonfiction, History

48 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 1997

About the author

An illustrator and educator, Veronica Lawlor is the president of the Studio 1482 illustration and design collective, in New York City. The author of several books, including One Drawing A Day and One Watercolor a Day, which will be released in December 2013. She is a reportage artist who gives workshops worldwide through Dalvero Academy, which she co-founded. Veronica is also on the faculty of Pratt Institute and Parsons the New School for Design.

Reviews

[Kelly McKenzie]

I think this book would be interesting to children because it offers a lot of different perspectives on people coming to America. They all have a different view and most of them are from different countries. This story provides short descriptions of people's journey and arrival to the United States at Ellis Island. It offers children different things to think about in the sense that they can imagine the point of view of the different immigrants. The story is written simply and doesn't use any big words that children wouldn't be able to understand. Because it is a series of experiences put into a book, there is no plot, problem, or resolution. The "characters" are real people that travelled to the United States from different countries, so the characters are definitely realistic. With each experience, there is a corresponding picture that represents the description of that piece. Most of them are very basic, but if the children were to look at only the picture, they would have a sense of what that person's experience was like. Various cultural groups are represented because the stories are told from different people's points of view from all around the world. People are from different countries, different cultural groups, and different religions. But they all came with one shared experience, for a better life for themselves and if they had one, their families. The tidbits are told from various perspectives so the children read about different values and different experiences with immigrating. There are no negative stereotypes; everyone is welcomed into America and as long as they passed heart inspections, were granted residency in this story. The experiences are told from real people's point of view, so nothing is oversimplified or complex; they are true stories. The author and illustrator, Veronica Lawlor, was born in the United States, but is of Scottish, Irish, and English descent.

[Amber · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a good quick book to read to children. I know that one of the AKS (Gwinnett County Standards) is that children talk about immigration. I think this would be a good book to share with the children during this study. There are some really good stories that talk about how these children felt when they came to Ellis Island. Also, at the end of the book, there are the biographies of the children that are mentioned in the book. When I read this book, I can match it to what I have seen when I went to NYC in 2007. We took a boat out to the Statue of Liberty and then we got to drive past Ellis Island. I did not go to Ellis Island when we went, but we went past it and I thought that it was very interesting to see it in person. I coudl never imagine being a child that young during the 1900s coming to Ellis Island.

[Mitzy Rodriguez]

a compilation of letters from individuals that express their thoughts of moving to a foreign location. A lot of the dialogue was positive, but others were not so excited. They spoke about feeling sick once they arrived at their new destination, they were not use to the customs of environment. One young child talks about the storm the family had to go through just to get to their new. At the end of the bad times, good times began, it was the start of a new life, many started new traditions; one young girl witnessed the shoes her mother wore to set foot on American soil and recognized the importance to her mother of those shoes that she asked to have them passed down to her. Even though the letters are about moving from one place to another a class can write letters about their origins where their ancestors come from and so on.

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is treasure I've used more than once with students who were doing their own oral histories as well as when we studied immigration. It is filled with short pieces from immigrants who tell of their experiences when they arrived in America. The artistic responses by Lawlor are gorgeous watercolor/collages, and the words from each tell small parts of their time. Here is a part from a young woman: "When I came here, I was in a different world. It was so peaceful, it was quiet. You were not afraid to go out in the middle of the night... I was free. I'm just like a bird." It's a good example of a short book appropriate for younger or older students who are researching this time, or would serve as a mentor text for writing memoir.

[Tara · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this book because it took so many different points of view and even from different countries. The thing I didn't like was that each letter was so similar when I used it in my class I realized each passage that I gave each group was almost the same. My students weren't all together engaged but it was short excerpts so it was doable. I liked it as a quick introduction to the topic of immigration but I would only select a few excerpts to read.

[Deanna · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a good resource for students to explore to understand immigrant's strong desires for coming to America. Often, today's students get lost about the reasons and ambitions for coming to America.

A teacher can incorporate this book in his or her classroom by having students read the book individually or as a class. To make text to self connections, the students could create a collage or mural of their interpretations of the desires of the child in the book.

[Rachael · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book would be great in a social studies unit about immigration. It is awesome because it takes excerpts from peoples real accounts of immigrating and living in the US. It would be great to interject some true stories into your lesson to bring it back home for the students.

[Schuerra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good book for kids to deal with S.S and immigration. The book was kid friendly and easy to relate to. I loved the way it was written as kids letters who were immigrating. Their was great insight into the world of immigration.

[Ellison · Rating 5 out of 5]

Features brief comments of new arrivals and inspectors to Ellis Island which was used from the 1890's to 1954. Insightful, includes child-like drawn images. At end shares brief bio of each of the commenters.

[Lexy]

immigration, hope/dream/determination/new culture

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another really good book to read in regards to immigration. With such a diverse population in classrooms today books like that can teach about culture and tolerance to so many.

[Jennine · Rating 4 out of 5]

We read this together to help my son earn a Cub Scout badge, where he had to learn about people who have come to America seeking religious freedom. The short stories from different people were interesting to him. He realized that it was like a diary entry, and he enjoyed looking at the dates and ages of the different people chronicled. My older son is learning about immigrants at school, so I'll have him read this to himself next, and I think we'll have to visit Ellis Island to see it ourselves! Also, I forgot that Rudy Giuliani ever had a soul (did he?!) and he wrote the forward to this book, so in the Trump era that was weird.

[Cheryl]

I wish the artsy fartsy illustrations were photos. I wish there were more stories, and that the design made it clear that this is for schoolchildren in social studies class, or, even better, middle school & up in history class. I don't have time to read the stories but what I skimmed were interesting enough. July 2025

[Zac Sigler · Rating 3 out of 5]

This could’ve been more, and yet less, preferably by cutting the forward by Rudy Giulliani.

[Benjamin Wagner · Rating 4 out of 5]

I Was Dreaming to Come to America is a non-fiction anthology, a slice-of-life collection of quotes from children from various countries (mostly European) who arrived to Ellis Island between 1890 and 1925. Because of the abstract nature of the illustrations, and the advanced language utilized in the quotes, I would recommend this for older students, probably fourth or fifth graders. It will require a great deal of analysis on the part of the student, but the non-fiction opinions and experiences expressed in this piece are optimistic, believable and worth looking in to. Since most of the quotes are from older folks, I think their language is a little bit antiquated, but easy to enough to understand upon some inspection.

Struggles and difficulties of immigration are not really looked into. Instead, they're rephrased as a positive. It focuses more on overcoming adversity, and the little pleasures of life. Maybe there weren't that many great meals while waiting to be processed, but there were friendly interpreters, music, and dancing. People felt united in the fact that they were all strangers.

The illustrations are very unique. They appear to be a mix of watercolor and collage, and each illustration is related to the quote in an abstract manner. The illustrations require about as much critical thinking and analysis as the text does, which makes this book quite the thinker.

I like this text. Struggles are discussed, but they take a backseat to optimistic concepts such as the "American Dream." My main problem with this text is that the take-home message seems to be that America is better than anywhere else. This may well have been the case in the early 1900's, but I think there's some validity to this sentiment considering the narrative consists entirely of quotes.

[Brittany · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is really cool because it contains excerpts from people who actually immigrated to the US via Ellis Island and they tell what their experiences were like on the voyage over here, what it was like once they got here, and how they were treated by the translators. It's really neat to hear the perspective from people from all over the world and how excited they were to come to America and how much it meant to them.

[Kira Richardson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book that was touching and told real stories. I remember going to Ellis Island as a field trip in Middle School, so this would be a great book to read, that can relate to a real place students could possibly travel to. An immigration unit or just simply learning about other cultures could work well with this book being an introduction.

[Leah Lemon]

This book is a collection of quotes from immigrants who passed through Ellis Island and the workers who worked there when it was an immigration center. It gives you an up close look at how life was on Ellis Island adn what coming to America meant for so many immigrants.

[Sabrina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great informational text about immigration. Great book to use to allow students to make connections about the immigrations problems of yesterday and today. The book included interviews from individuals that were actually at or came thru Ellis Island.

[Hira]

this is a very special book; the images and the quotes are moving. if presented in a good way, this book could inspire students to create a multimodal peice in which they describe an event that has importance in their lives and choose graphics and sound to go with the presentation.

[Mandy Groover]

Great for teaching about Ellis Island and immigrants.

[Jennifer Ho · Rating 3 out of 5]

A cool book which includes short verses of immigrants from all parts of the world who come to Ellis Island to start a new life in America.

[Joann Park · Rating 4 out of 5]

Accurate narratives from people who arrived on Ellis Island from a foreign country. Book about immigrants and the struggle they endured.

[Alyse · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not the most memorable book, but I do believe that some teachers will find this useful when teaching social studies.

[Jazmen Kearney · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book with personal stories about immigration. Students will be able to see how the people actually felt through these stories.

[Karima · Rating 4 out of 5]

Would serve as a good intro to immigration for the fourth-grade crowd.
Features 15 immigrants, all from European countries. Each person writes a paragraph or two about their experience of coming to America,; each narrative is accompanied by an illustration. The illustrations, done by the author, are beautiful, reminiscent of Marc Chagall.
There is a forward by Rudy Giuliani, which is ironic since he advised Trump to bar citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the United States for 90 days and suspending the admission of all refugees for 120 days (January 2017).