Desperation and hope have always sent people from their homelands in search of a better life. The massive immigrations of the past two centuries have had large areas of thinly populated land to settle, but many such escape valves are being sealed, while population pressures mount throughout the world. A rising tide of newcomers and their…

Describes a writing assignment designed to educate students about an ethnic group different than their own. Students first wrote a factual account of how their family arrived at the local region. They then wrote an account from the perspective of a fictional student from a different ethnic group. (MJP)

The history of Lebanese immigrants to the United States is reviewed, and the contributions of this ethnic group to the American fabric are explored in this book which is part of a series for children. For at least 1,500 years Lebanon was a sort of haven for religious sects that would not have been allowed such freedom elsewhere. As a result, the…