Beautiful Country: A Memoir of an Undocumented Childhood

Seven-year-old Qian’s family moves from China to the US to find a better life, but they soon discover it is actually a place of hardship, fear, and isolation for their undocumented immigrant family. Qian relates scenes that reveal the terrible impact of racism, poverty, child labour, and fear have on her and her parents, but she and her Ma Ma are resilient and courageous and remain hungry for education and a way to create a better life. This engaging childhood memoir, suitable for literature circles or independent novel study, explores racism, poverty, mistreatment of immigrants, privilege, stereotypes, microaggressions, and how racial minorities have been divided and pitted against each other.