The Book Of Unknown America Alazova Summary

Approximately 123,000 people immigrated to the United States last year. Among these people are girls like Maya Alazova, an immigrant from Kazakhstan, from the text “My Favorite Chaperone” by the author Jean Davies Okimoto, and women like Celia Toro, who is from Panama, from the text “The Book of Unknown Americans" by Cristina Henriquez. “My Favorite Chaperone” is about a teen girl named Maya Alazova who immigrated to America with her family and is starting to fit in. She wants her whole family to understand her, but only her brother understands her. She wants to go to an after-school dance, but her parents won’t let her. “The Book of Unknown Americans” is about a woman named Celia Toro who wants to revisit Panama because, after she had to move

The author of “My Favorite Chaperone” writes, “I don’t know why I didn’t just shake my head when this very popular girl Marcia Egness was handing them out. And even after I took one, I don’t know why I didn’t throw it away. Maybe I just couldn’t give up hope. It’s like that in America. It’s a place where things can change for people, and many people always seem to have hope. At least that’s how it seems to me. Maybe I was beginning to think this way, too, although my hope was very small.” (Paragraph 1). This is important because it shows that Maya is hoping to join the dance; she wants to be like the American kids, which shows that she wants to assimilate into U.S. culture. So her ultimate goal is to become/assimilate into an American by going to the school dance. The author of “The Book of Unknown Americans”, writes, “So they applied for U.S. citizenship, sitting up at night reading the Constitution, a dictionary by their side, and studying for the exam.”(Paragraph 5). This is important because it shows that Mayor’s parents are taking the citizenship test, which is taken to become a U.S. citizen, so this means they are trying to assimilate into the U.S. by trying to become a citizen. Perhaps there are many others like this who have similar

The author of “My Favorite Chaperone” writes, “I looked at the permission slip, wishing there were some special words I could say to get Mama and Papa to sign it. Around me, everyone in my homeroom was talking excitedly about the Spring Fling. Mama says she thinks the school is strange to have parties and events after school when students should be doing their homework.”(Paragraph 8). This is important because it shows that Maya wishes her parents signed the slip, which means they will not do it, but she hopes they did. As was discussed in the previous paragraph, her goal is to assimilate into the U.S. by going to the spring fling. Anything that stops one from achieving one’s goal can be considered a hindrance, and therefore is an obstacle to overcome. Throughout the story, Maya works hard to overcome the fact that her parents won’t let her go, so she overcomes the obstacle by working hard and persevering, and at the end achieving her goal through hard work.The author of “The Book of Unknown Americans”, writes, “She’d become a genius at turning any and every little thing into a way to talk about Panamá”(Paragraph 21). This is important because it shows that Celia was not able to go to Panama, like she wanted to, due to her husband having a big ego. So instead of giving up, she works hard and tries to convince her husband to return. Even though she is not successful in going to