1. Group G---ccamire27 (Replacement A)

My Response : My book is not able to answer this question. My book “The Burning Tigris” is about the Armenian Genocide. The book is both a history on the genocide, a history of the world’s response to the genocide (America and Europe at this time) and how the genocide affects world human rights and humanitarian issues today. Each chapter details the historical events and the situation leading up to it. The Armenians of the 19th century lived in the Ottoman Empire, which was increasingly hostile to them. “The Armenian Question” was what to do about the Armenian people. The Sultan of the Ottoman Empire sought to eliminate the Armenian people, therefore, “solving the question”. The book details the massacres and increasing destruction of the Armenians and their culture. The United States and Great Britain both exposed the tragedies of the Armenians to their populations through newspapers and gathering. The first Red Cross mission to go international was to help the ravaged Armenians. The Armenian Genocide did not start until 1915, but terrible violence was brought on the Armenians through the 1890s. My book is not about the immigration of people, but instead about their elimination. The complete destruction of their culture, and sense of the Armenian people was purposely tried to be eradicated from the Ottoman Empire.  “It was this complexly layered Christian culture situated across the empire from Constantinople to to Van, from Tabzon to Adana that Sultan Abdul Hamid II would begin to destroy openly now with his tactic of planned massacre." (Balakian 52).

 In my book The Only Road by Alexander Diez there is a boy named Jamie who struggles with the loss of his cousin Miguel. He lives in a small town in Guatemala. There’s a group called the Alphas who are considered bad. Anyone who refuses to work with them is hurt or killed. Like Maguel. Jamie lives in fear of her being the next one to be killed. My character might need to adapt language potentially because he is thinking about moving to the U.S to go live with his brother. Another thing he might struggle with may be adapting to different cultures. A quote that supports this states, “It was bad luck to cry or make a scene at a child's funeral. The spirit would get confused, thinking he needed to stay on earth, instead of making his assent straight into God's arms, where he belonged.”  (Diaz 14)

In the book, Throwback by Maurene Goo, Samantha, or as she’s called through the book, Sam, is the daughter of a first-generation Korean immigrant, Priscilla, with whom she has a… troubled relationship to say the least. After a fight with her mom that leaves her stranded in the mall parking lot over her not trying for homecoming queen, she orders a ride share service called Throwback Rides, after a talk about what happened with her mom with the driver, Samantha is thrown back to when her mom was in the running for Homecoming Queen, and now has to help her mom achieve said title to get back to her place in time and make amends with her mother.

 In America, immigrants are heavily pressured to fit themselves into the “sapiensystem” (I just made this up based on the words “sapient” and “ecosystem”), just as everyone else is pressured to. Sam’s mom, Priscilla, was forced to not come off as Korean, else she faced the wrath of her peers. “You think K-pop music is so fun and cool, but when I was a kid, listening to Korean music would have been social suicide,” (Goo, 48). In order to be able to rise to the point where she got nominated for homecoming queen, Priscilla had to assimilate into the most common clique, the “white people”. Cliques based on race are a thing presented in the past that she grew up in, as Sam travels back there and points it out. 

Sgolob27 I like that your book isn't about the immigration but instead, the genocide. because it shows a different side of the story compared to my book. this gives a better understanding of this concept of immigration.

eberube27 your book shares some things with mine like moving to the U.S and living with someone close to them. my book is different however because my character does have to fear for there life, but rather needs to balance school and work.

ksmith27 this is very different than my book. in my book its about an immigrant who goes back and forth between the U.S and mexico for school and work.

In Daniel Aleman’s book, Brighter Than The Sun, a 16 year old girl named Soledad, who lives in Mexico, is struggling to get by. After her mom passed, it's been difficult to make money and keep their family restaurant running. But Sol goes to school in America because she was born there. So because her dad had been working hard on the restaurant, Sol took it upon herself to get a job in San Diego. Because of this, she starts sleeping over at her friend Ari’s house, only returning home on the weekends. She deals with stress because of the schoolwork, her job, and grief from her mom. Many immigrants are pressured to assimilate very quickly, if not immediately. People expect them to forget about their culture and adapt immediately. Some things are easy to adapt to, Sol has to quickly adapt to school life and work life in America. Some things, like language and clothing, are harder for most immigrants, like Sol, to adapt to.

In my book Interior Chinatown, the main character is a background character in a show and is trying to become one of the leads. He continues to go through his life, but is gathering information about other people involved in the show. Whenever he tries to interfere, something happens that prevents him from being successful. It feels as if there is an outside force working against him