1. Group A---edesmond26

In my story, Sigh, Gone, Phuc Tran talks more about this relationship with his dad. Early in the book he describes what his life was like as a young child refugee. His Vietnamese family moved to Pennsylvania after they needed to relocate. Because there is no diversity where they move, Phuc is immediately singled out. There are many times that Phuc does his best to help himself and his family fit in, but there are limits to what his father was willing to do. Phuc's father insists that he needs to learn Vietnamese, so when Phuc refuses, because he doesn't want to be the weird immigrant kid, his dad beats him. To his father, it was a non-negotiable, "How are you going to read Vietnamese? Are you going to be a Vietnamese person who can't read their own language?" (Tran 58)

To Phuc, being Vietnamese was the problem, not something to continue diving deeper into. For him, thinking about his future as an American, Vietnam didn't seem important. To his father, knowing it would be difficult for them to ever go back, and not willing to put his family at risk, Vietnam is everything important. Phuc even details how the local paper got involved in his grandparents' relocation from Vietnam, "The arrival of more Trans was headline news for our drowsy town." (Tran 70). But things start to change when he writes a story about their relocation. He ends up winning a prize for a writing contest for his essay and realizes, "Words were powerful. They could destroy you, and they could save you, too. And maybe earn you a hot Happy Meal---thankfully." (Tran 71). 

Just knowing and continuing to use the language of your culture can be extremely important. Phuc and his experiences, even though he's resistant, show why family, their traditions, their values, their involvement, ultimately are beneficial. 

In my book The Grief Keeper by Alexzandra Villasante, this book is about a young girl trying to escape from a latin american country because of gang violence and vendettas and she seeks refuge in the united states, he then tries to escape from being deported and  gets picked up by a governmental person and is forced to be in a experiment for her freedom.In my book so far you don't see much for her family traditions, because after her brothers death, they flee into the united states..” Due to an unfortunate incident involving marisol's older brother, their family has come under the bad influence..”(Villasante 10).  In my book she does speak Spanish, and does value her family because she is trying to get refuge for her family.

Girl In Translation By Jean Kwok is about a young Chinese girl immigrating to the U.S from Hong Kong, trying to accustom to the new morals and ways of life. Kimberly and her mother live in a very run down, bad apartment in the projects of New York, a place that was basically abandoned. Kimberly has to attend public school, where she has some challenges in the beginning, but eventually makes a good friend named Annette. Annette shows her the ways of life in the U.S and eventually Kimberly gets the hang of school there, and gets very high math tests scores, and was able to be a candidate to go to a private school. On top of school, Kimberly has to go to the factory where her mother was employed after school to work very long hours, sometimes being there all night with her mother.

To Kimberly and her mother, the Chinese traditions they had brought from the U.S from Hong Kong were very important and were to still be followed. Kimberly has to accustom to the new ways of life in the U.S, while still following the morals and traditions inherited from her mom. One quote where it shows this is where Kimberly's mother tells Kimberly they still have to "repay their debts" which is one of the traditions and morals the Chinese hold on to and follow. "She's given us housing and a job. She's my sister and your aunt. And no matter how flawed someone else may be, that doesn't give us the right to be less than we are, does it? We are decent people and we repay our debts." ( Kwok 88 )

In my book Americanized, by Sara SaedI. She talks about being naive when they moved to America not knowing they could easily be kicked out of America since they aren't there legally. They end up getting a social security card so the government knows they are there. She then goes on how she struggles during school because of her looks and comparing herself to others, especially her skin color, especially with boys and wanting to be liked, and in a relationship. 

In my book there are no family traditions, but Instead I do see her parents trusting her on what she wants to do, regardless of their opinion on it. “As much as their parenting philosophy was “We trust you,” “You can trust us.” (SaedI 73)

There are many ways that the main character in the book Behold the Dreamers by Imbolo Mbue practices family traditions. Jende first gets to move to the U.S. even if he doesn't have any papers, second gets to move his family over and gets married to his girlfriend, and finally gets a good job being a driver for a very wealthy man and his family. Despite living in New York, Jende regularly sends money back home to support his family, which is a common practice in many African cultures where family bonds and responsibilities are highly valued. ¨Every month, Jende sent money to his parents in Cameroon, no matter how tight things were¨”(Imbolo Pg 45).