The Books I Wish I Had as an Undocumented Child

Katya Suvorova is the author of Ungrateful Immigrant Daughter: A Memoir From the Child of a Mail-Order Bride, out this week from Alcove Press. Below, she discusses three books she wishes she had as an undocumented child. Growing up undocumented was a lonely experience, spent fearing a traffic stop or trusting the wrong person could lead to being deported or separated from my family. I sometimes didn’t believe we would survive the situations we were in, and I didn’t know any adults who had grown up undocumented. I wish I had gotten to read stories from adults who had been where I was, but I was far too afraid to go to my librarian and ask, “Do you have any books about undocumented kids like me?” As an adult, I have found books about undocumented experiences to be deeply healing. If I could go back in time, I would give myself three of my favorite memoirs about undocumented childhoods: The first is Qian Julie Wang’s Beautiful Country. The memoir is told from her POV as an undocumented Chinese immigrant growing up in New York in the 90s and early 2000s. This book was a balm to my heart. While reading, I was struck by how Qian Julie’s description of the all-consuming stress of being un...