I was much older than I care to admit before I realized that Angel Island as a thing and that the picture I had of immigration, of hopeful people waiting in a bright room to be admitted into the country, was a far cry from reality. Reading this book will give young readers a complete picture not only of Angel Island but also of the cruelties and discrimination of American immigration policy. The writing and vocabulary here are simple and easy to follow. Its probably a good idea to read this along with your child so you can discuss the policies, cultural norms, and racism that come along with the information.

Thank you to Lerner Publications and NetGalley for an ARC of this title. As a history teacher who teaches students about Angel Island I truly appreciated this resource as a supplement to my curriculum. The book is organized in a clear way and makes it easier for a students to read and digest information. The many primary sources included help students analyze what they are reading and add context for students too. I especially liked the reflection questions to help guide students in their thinking about the information. This is such a valuable addition to a book like this. This book could be used in an elementary classroom as well as a secondary classroom.

"The Real History of Angel Island" retells what happened at Angel Island and the immigrants that arrived there. Pictures help to tell the story and aid comprehension. A glossary at the end supports students vocabulary and a reading list helps those who may want to learn more. Recommended for grades 5-8

This was an amazing read. As a social studies teacher I am constantly reading nonfiction books to help me learn new things and that’s the reason I requested this book. Angle Island was something I hadn’t heard of before reading this. This would be a great addiction to an immigration unit and is something I will tell my students about.

It’s a quick, simple and nice book for kids. I enjoyed reading it myself, but I ended up wanting more and deeper information though I understand that I am not the target audience for this book. It is a great option for the young ones!

This eye-opening book will be a definite purchase when I teach my Embracing Heritage unit on immigration. I was unaware of the differences between Angel Island and Ellis Island as immigration stations and just assumed experiences entering the country at either place were similar. It’s filled with links, primary source documents, and photos. It’s written in a way that has students pause and reflect on what’s presented in each chapter. It’s a perfect classroom resource.

I had never heard of Angel Island until I read this book. Angel Island was the immigration station for Asian immigrants in San Francisco Bay, CA. This book explains what it was and how the Asian people, especially the Chinese people, were treated as they waited to gain entrance to the United States. There is a illuminating chart that compares Angel Island to Ellis Island to show the differences. The text is broken into short chapters with Did You Know? sections, black and white and color photographs, and Reflect questions. These questions encourage the reader to think about what they just read and connect to their life and current world situation. I could see this book generating great classroom or small group conversations or lead to personal exploration into learning more about this real piece of history. At the end of the book, there are videos, websites, and books to learn more about Angel Island. I would recommend this non-fiction text to classrooms from third to sixth grade. There are five other titles in the "Left Out of History" book series that I now need to go find.

Thank you Lerner Publishing Group and Net Galley for an ARC of The Real History of Angel Island by Carol Kim in exchange for an honest review.

When I was in sixth grade, I believe, we had to learn about immigration. As part of that unit, we had to read books about where our ancestors came from. I was of Italian/British heritage, so I got assigned the Italian, of course. Most of the European immigrants went through Ellis Island.

But there was another place that immigrants came through, and that was Angel Island, and this short picture book history of the island tells how horribly the mostly Chinese immigrants, though it was all Asian immigrants, were treated.

The book covers such things as paper children, which happened after the 1906 earthquake, where records were destroyed, so that Chinese parents could declare that they were citizens, and oh, by the way, they had kids in China that they wanted to be brought over. These children often were not their real children, but children whose parents paid for them to pretend.

This book covers the history of the island, from when the center was built, up until it became a national monument. The author also compares how much more brutal the immigration officials were to immigrants there, vs Ellis Island. For example, only 2% of immigrants were turned away from Ellis Island, while 20% were turned away at Angel Island.

An excellent introduction to this part of American history. And according to the back matter there are, or will be, other books on events that got left out of history, such as Juneteenth, or the transcontinental railroad.

<em>Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.</em>