calistareads's review
4.0
Once again, a children's book teaches me something about American history I never knew.
The story is set in San Francisco before the turn of the 1900s. This story is about Wong Kim Ark and what it means to be an American. The story is suitable for children and easy to understand and it's great for people like me who still have a lot to learn about our countries history.
I believe the one thing that makes an American, an American, is our mutual belief in Freedom. According to the law, it's being born on our soil. We have so many differences, our one thing to bring us all together is that belief in Freedom. My grandmother and I argued about this for many years while she was alive. She believe that is was religion that should bring us all together. Religion is divisive and everyone believes different things. We have as much right from religion as too it. It can't be the thing to unite us.
What is the statistic, something like 30% of the nation doesn't believe in anything or something. Don't trust that, I didn't look it up. anyway. Religion can't unify a people on a national level like ours. It can't be how we look, we are the great melting pot. Having freedom, we can choose to make any kind of culture we want. No, the only thing that we all have together is that belief in Freedom. Neither myself or my grandmother could convince the other. Anyway.
This is a great book about an amazing person. He was an American and he fought for it and thankfully, Wong Kim Ark won and is an American with descendants still Americans living in this country.
Honestly, it's not easy being a melting pot. There's all those violent bubbles. Still, I believe it's better and stronger to have all that diversity. It makes a better stew.
Thank you for the 14th Amendment. Thank you to the judges ruling for this case.
The story is set in San Francisco before the turn of the 1900s. This story is about Wong Kim Ark and what it means to be an American. The story is suitable for children and easy to understand and it's great for people like me who still have a lot to learn about our countries history.
I believe the one thing that makes an American, an American, is our mutual belief in Freedom. According to the law, it's being born on our soil. We have so many differences, our one thing to bring us all together is that belief in Freedom. My grandmother and I argued about this for many years while she was alive. She believe that is was religion that should bring us all together. Religion is divisive and everyone believes different things. We have as much right from religion as too it. It can't be the thing to unite us.
What is the statistic, something like 30% of the nation doesn't believe in anything or something. Don't trust that, I didn't look it up. anyway. Religion can't unify a people on a national level like ours. It can't be how we look, we are the great melting pot. Having freedom, we can choose to make any kind of culture we want. No, the only thing that we all have together is that belief in Freedom. Neither myself or my grandmother could convince the other. Anyway.
This is a great book about an amazing person. He was an American and he fought for it and thankfully, Wong Kim Ark won and is an American with descendants still Americans living in this country.
Honestly, it's not easy being a melting pot. There's all those violent bubbles. Still, I believe it's better and stronger to have all that diversity. It makes a better stew.
Thank you for the 14th Amendment. Thank you to the judges ruling for this case.
yapha's review
5.0
Important piece of history told in an accessible and engaging way. Excellent illustrations. Highly recommended for grades 2 & up.
panda_incognito's review
3.0
This is an important story for kids and adults to learn about, but I wish that this nonfiction picture book had included more details and context. Even when I was reading the author's note, I was confused about how some of the additional details there filled in gaps in the child's-level narrative, especially when it came to the passage of time.
I was also unimpressed with a native land acknowledgement near the beginning, because it disrupts the flow of the narrative and is just virtue signaling from the author. "From a spot on a street with two names, on ancestral land of the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe of Native Americans, Kim Ark knew one thing for sure. I am an American." Um. Okay.
If this book was all from the author's perspective, she could throw that detail in here, but since she's trying to channel this man's perspective, it's jarring for her to bring up a detail that he didn't know and that had nothing to do with his perception or experience. It's choppy, forced, and disrupts the story.
I was also unimpressed with a native land acknowledgement near the beginning, because it disrupts the flow of the narrative and is just virtue signaling from the author. "From a spot on a street with two names, on ancestral land of the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe of Native Americans, Kim Ark knew one thing for sure. I am an American." Um. Okay.
If this book was all from the author's perspective, she could throw that detail in here, but since she's trying to channel this man's perspective, it's jarring for her to bring up a detail that he didn't know and that had nothing to do with his perception or experience. It's choppy, forced, and disrupts the story.
libraryrobin's review
4.0
True story of the challenge to citizenship presented when a native-born man tried to re-enter the US after a trip to China, eventually leading to the Supreme Court decision that anyone born in the United States is a citizen.
Well paced with solid illustrations. Very good as an introduction for a middle grade social studies discussion on citizenship.
Well paced with solid illustrations. Very good as an introduction for a middle grade social studies discussion on citizenship.
id_rather_be_reading_'s review
informative
medium-paced
4.0
A colorful picture book biography that tells the story of Wong Kim Ark. On March 28, 1898, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its landmark decision in United States v. Wong Kim Ark, holding that children born in the United States, even to parents not eligible to become citizens, were nonetheless citizens themselves under the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. Historical nonfiction that is suitable for elementary grade students.
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