My Name Is America: The Journal of Otto Peltonen - A Finnish Immigrant's Story | Historical Fiction Book for Teens & Adults | Perfect for Book Clubs & History Enthusiasts

Detailed the daily life of Finnish immigrants to make a life in America. Showed reasons why unions are important in bettering the life of all workers.This is the worst condition book I have ever received. I specifically paid more to ensure I got a book labeled “very good” condition. I can understand signs of wear, maybe library tags, but THIS BOOK... is trashed. This book has sharpie on it, including on the cover, it has all kinds of markings everywhere, and worst of all it looks like someone at their lunch with the book as the plate somewhere in the middle. I feel like I need to wash my hands after touching this book. Gross. This is not “Very Good”!A good book for older children. It is a beautifully done book. It is written in diary form and gives interesting information about different times in American history as seen through the eyes of a boy. This was purchased for our church library. It is the start of a new series for our young readers.The book gives a very engaging and personal look at what life was like for Finnish immigrants to the Iron Range.I grew up near Hibbing and my ancestors immigrated from Finland. I now live out of state and have children. I had so much fun reading this book. And I know my children will enjoy it while learning about their ancestors.I had lost this excellent library book and wanted to replace it. The condition of the book is new and the pronto delivery helped so much.As a thirteen-year-old, i thoroughly enjoyed this book. It was honest and real about the hardships the Finnish immigrants (and many other immigrants) faced. It's a very nice book, BUT A QUICK WARNING... Otto Peltonen worked in a coal mine and lived in distraught immigrant camps, this book often covers heavy, possibly morbid, subjects, such as terrible mining accidents. Not in great detail, but still very much a topic. I wouldn't recommend it for young children who scare easily. Other then that, it is an interesting, fun book with a happy ending!My 8 year old daughter and I read this aloud to one another for a Social Studies homeschool lesson, and I have to say that this book stands far above others in the historical fiction journals for children genre. William Durban, a resident of Hibbing, Minnesota, the setting of the book, crafted the story with such care that I do not doubt this book was several years in the making. I was unable to determine if the narrator, Otto Peltonen, was a real life person because unlike other books in the genre where the main character is supposed to represent "everyman" and hit on all of the politically correct multicultural themes, Otto and his family are quite believable. According to the acknowledgements page, Durban conducted a great deal of interviews with Finns living locally as well as back in Otto's hometown in Finnland, and these undoubtedly lend the story some of its authenticity.Labor and the immigrant experience are the major themes. I appreciated how Durban carefully drew his characters such that none of them appeared to be literary archetypes, just real Americans. There were no heroes or villains, per se. I picked up this volume by virtue of it being one of the few fiction titles for young readers dealing with the Finnish experience, but beyond simply being in a different location (Minnesota) and having different ethnic players, this book seems to me to be far superior to other stories dealing with labor history of miners in Pennsylvania or West Virginia. Socialism is given not only fair treatment but one thing I appreciated was how the author doesn't really use the book as quite the soap box he could have, keeping the story tied to Hibbing and the unionism as it happened there without leaving out details about a few local radical eccentrics and smaller socialist attempts to organize, for example, a cooperative grocery store.Vocabulary that is introduced are concepts like "replacement workers," contracts, wages, wildcat strikes, pickets, and opportunities to discuss the mining technology of the era present themselves throughout the book. Opportunities to launch other units on American history or economics or politics on U.S. Steel or Andrew Carnegie are presented, as well as ties to literature classics, including works by Mark Twain, Jack London, and O. Henry.Well written with clean and concise language. Excellent research. Nicely broken down with easy reading chapters. A fine example and demonstration of racism in early America against a group not normally targeted. A good historical analysis of immigrant conditions in the early 1900's but filled with hope and the ultimate fulfillment of the American Dream.