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Great Lakes Books Series
To the Copper Country: Mihaela's Journey
In 1886, eleven-year-old Mihaela embarks on a journey from Croatia to the Keweenaw Peninsula, also known as Michigan's Copper Country. Mihaela's papa had made the trip two years beforehand in order to work in the copper mines so that he could send money back home, but a painful eye disease has left him vulnerable in a new land and in need of the skills of his wife, an expert healer. And so Mihaela, her mother, and two younger brothers leave their family farm in Croatia for what they assume will be a brief visit to America, only to find themselves faced with a great many challenges and a stay that will not be temporary after all.
To the Copper Country: Mihaela's Journey is based on the family history of author Barbara Carney-Coston. Her ancestors made the voyage from Croatia to Michigan in the late nineteenth century, a time when many different groups were immigrating to the United States in search of a new life and better opportunities for their families. A common thread runs throughout the accounts of most immigrants, in terms of sacrifice, assimilation, and cultural contribution to a growing America. But Mihaela's story is unique in that her exploration of this new land is critical to her father's survival.
Through extensive primary source materials, family interviews, and correspondence, Carney-Coston introduces readers to an exceptional narrative of the immigrant experience. Complete with a pronunciation guide, family recipes, and a bibliography, To the Copper Country aims to highlight a lesser-known ethnic group that made up part of the great migration of the late 1800s while also identifying parallels between today's immigrant experiences and those of the past. This book is suitable for young readers and would be an excellent tool for teaching empathy and Michigan history in the classroom.
To the Copper Country: Mihaela's Journey is based on the family history of author Barbara Carney-Coston. Her ancestors made the voyage from Croatia to Michigan in the late nineteenth century, a time when many different groups were immigrating to the United States in search of a new life and better opportunities for their families. A common thread runs throughout the accounts of most immigrants, in terms of sacrifice, assimilation, and cultural contribution to a growing America. But Mihaela's story is unique in that her exploration of this new land is critical to her father's survival.
Through extensive primary source materials, family interviews, and correspondence, Carney-Coston introduces readers to an exceptional narrative of the immigrant experience. Complete with a pronunciation guide, family recipes, and a bibliography, To the Copper Country aims to highlight a lesser-known ethnic group that made up part of the great migration of the late 1800s while also identifying parallels between today's immigrant experiences and those of the past. This book is suitable for young readers and would be an excellent tool for teaching empathy and Michigan history in the classroom.
- GenresBook Club
144 pages, Paperback
Published September 11, 2017
18 people are currently reading
213 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
October 7, 2017
Mihaela’s father leaves Croatia to travel to the United States in search of work. He leaves his family and extended family behind to settle in Calumet Michigan, where he works in the copper mines. The work is hard and dangerous and the copper dust is irritating to his eyes, gradually causing an eye disease that the doctors can’t cure. He sends for his wife, who is a healer, to come from Croatia in the hope that she may be able to find an herbal remedy. Mihaela, and her brothers Blaz and Luka travel with her. When they change trains in New York, Mihaela accidentally leaves the basket of healing herbs behind and finds only remnants of what they brought. Papa’s eyes are worse than they thought when they arrive and nothing Mihaela’s mother tries seems to help for long. It falls to Mihaela to find the herbs she lost in a new and dangerous land.
This book lends itself so well to classroom discussion. Teachers can use it as a springboard for settling America, genealogical study, herbal medicine, or mining and its safety issues. It would also make an excellent choice for an historical book report. The author has included a plethora of bonus material including: a bibliography, a pronunciation guide, photographs, a Croatian glossary, and family recipes.
Mihaela is a believable and sympathetic character as she valiantly tries to adjust to a completely different way of life. Days filled with chores that begin before dawn and evenings spent telling stories and singing will contrast sharply with the lives of today’s students. The text is well written and despite hardships, laced liberally with hope. Both school and public libraries will find it an excellent purchase.
This book lends itself so well to classroom discussion. Teachers can use it as a springboard for settling America, genealogical study, herbal medicine, or mining and its safety issues. It would also make an excellent choice for an historical book report. The author has included a plethora of bonus material including: a bibliography, a pronunciation guide, photographs, a Croatian glossary, and family recipes.
Mihaela is a believable and sympathetic character as she valiantly tries to adjust to a completely different way of life. Days filled with chores that begin before dawn and evenings spent telling stories and singing will contrast sharply with the lives of today’s students. The text is well written and despite hardships, laced liberally with hope. Both school and public libraries will find it an excellent purchase.
May 7, 2018
I really enjoyed this book. I loved all the history and action involved. I also loved how I got to learn all the things they did to entertain themselves. I loved one of the main characters Mihaela because she was so brave and bold trying to find the cure for her Papa's eyes. I recomend this book to anyone who loves history and great stories
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 9, 2017
Now that President Trump's travel ban has been upheld by the Supreme Court and the drawbridge to our country is slowly closing, perhaps it is time to remind our children and grandchildren that many of us are only here (and they are here) because our grandparents or great-grandparents traveled to this country, with great difficulty, in search of a better life. One way to begin that conversation is to read to them, or gift them, "To the Copper Country: Mihaela's Journey." The author, Barbara Carney-Costen, draws on the history of her great-grandfather's journey in the 1880's from Croatia to Michigan's Upper Peninsula to work in the copper mines. After developing an eye disease caused by the rock dust in the mines that local doctors could not cure, he sends for his wife who had been known in her Croatian village for her healing skills and knowledge of herbs. In 1886 she embarks, with her three young children, on the lengthy journey from Croatia to Michigan.
The story of their passage is told by 11-year-old Mihaela. She is distraught because in the New York train station she lost the basket brought from Croatia filled with herbs to cure her father's vision. If her father's vision cannot be cured, it will be her "fault." Through her eyes, we experience the family's arrival in Michigan to live in a boarding house made of logs, rented by the mining company to its employees. When her mother learns that her chores will include cooking and cleaning for the 12 men who live with her husband, and they will pay her, she responds: "I have never been paid for my work." Mihaela describes the boardinghouse chores, Croatian music and food (recipes are included in the book). She shares her homesickness for cousins, aunts and uncles left behind and the plants she finds, hoping to use them to cure her father's vision.
Mihaela's journey from the old country to the new reminds us of the parallel trips taken by our own forefathers and mothers from a country with different customs, languages, foods. Mihaela's story underscores that open immigration policies enrich us; exclusion of others has not been our history. The book is lovingly written, dedicated to the author's mother "who told me the stories." It fits our time.
The story of their passage is told by 11-year-old Mihaela. She is distraught because in the New York train station she lost the basket brought from Croatia filled with herbs to cure her father's vision. If her father's vision cannot be cured, it will be her "fault." Through her eyes, we experience the family's arrival in Michigan to live in a boarding house made of logs, rented by the mining company to its employees. When her mother learns that her chores will include cooking and cleaning for the 12 men who live with her husband, and they will pay her, she responds: "I have never been paid for my work." Mihaela describes the boardinghouse chores, Croatian music and food (recipes are included in the book). She shares her homesickness for cousins, aunts and uncles left behind and the plants she finds, hoping to use them to cure her father's vision.
Mihaela's journey from the old country to the new reminds us of the parallel trips taken by our own forefathers and mothers from a country with different customs, languages, foods. Mihaela's story underscores that open immigration policies enrich us; exclusion of others has not been our history. The book is lovingly written, dedicated to the author's mother "who told me the stories." It fits our time.
January 5, 2019
Good book but I wish it had been longer. It's a good introduction for middle grade readers to learn about immigrants who settled in the U.P.
December 22, 2020
This was a sweet story of an eleven year old girl and her family as they immigrated and made an adjustment to my home area, the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews