Refugee High, Elly Fishman
Refugee High, Elly Fishman
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Refugee High
Coming of Age in America

Author: Elly Fishman

Narrator: Shiromi Arserio

Unabridged: 6 hr 43 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 11/20/2021

Synopsis

A year in the life of a Chicago high school that has one of the highest proportions of refugees of any school in the nationFor a century, Chicago’s Roger C. Sullivan High School has been a landing place for migrants. In recent years, it boasts one of the highest proportions of immigrant and refugee students in the country. In 2017, around half its student population hailed from another country, with students from thirty-five different countries speaking more than thirty-eight different languages.Some had arrived having lived only in refugee camps. Nearly all carried the trauma inflicted on them by the world at its most hateful and violent. Life is not easy for them in Chicago. They cope with poverty, racism, and xenophobia, with overburdened social-service organizations and gang turf wars they don’t understand. But above all, they are still teens, flirting, dreaming, and working as they navigate their new life in America.Refugee High is a riveting chronicle of the 2017–18 school year at Sullivan High, a time when anti-immigrant rhetoric was at its height in the White House. Even as we follow teachers and administrators grappling with the everyday challenges facing many urban schools, we witness the complicated circumstances and unique education needs of refugee and immigrant children: Alejandro may be deported just days before he is scheduled to graduate; Shahina narrowly escapes an arranged marriage; and Esengo is shot at the beginning of the school year.Raising vital questions about what the priorities and values of a public school like Sullivan should be, Refugee High is a vital window into the present-day American immigration and education systems.

About Elly Fishman

Elly Fishman worked as a senior editor and writer at Chicago magazine. Her features have won numerous awards including a City Regional Magazine Award for her article “Welcome to Refugee High,” her first report on the students and faculty at Chicago’s Roger C. Sullivan High School. A Chicago native and graduate of the University of Chicago, Fishman currently lives in Milwaukee with her husband and their dog and teaches in the Journalism Department at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee.

About Shiromi Arserio

Shiromi Arserio is an author, stage actor, voice talent, and audiobook narrator from London. She holds a BA in theater from Rose Bruford College of Theatre and Performance. In addition to narrating dozens of audiobooks, her voice can be heard in documentaries, e-learning projects, and video games. Prior to venturing into audiobook narration, she worked as a freelance writer for publications such as Renaissance Magazine and Northwest Magazine.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Rebecca on August 10, 2021

CW: gun violence, prejudice, racism Thank you to NetGalley and The New Press for an advanced electronic copy of this book in exchange for an honest review! This nonfiction book visits the school with the highest refugee population in the USA, Chicago's Roger C. Sullivan High School, in 2017, a year......more

Goodreads review by Heather on June 16, 2021

Full review in Booklist. Could perhaps be more complex, but the kids’ stories and Sullivan’s story are worth reading.......more

Goodreads review by Jacob on April 23, 2022

So so so so good. Great simple non-fiction storytelling that illuminates an experience that is so normal but also so foreign to most people. A must read in my opinion especially if you live in Chicago.......more

Goodreads review by Emilie on May 03, 2022

It’s insightful, helpful, and inspiring to read about my actual neighbors. Changes the way I see our neighborhood and city. It’s incredibly humbling to live near such courageous and resilient young people. They may be the best of us.......more

Goodreads review by Carissa on December 01, 2021

I loved this! So crazy that it all happens just over a mile from my apartment.......more

Quotes

“A wondrous tapestry of stories, of young people looking for a home. With deep, immersive reporting, Elly Fishman pulls off a triumph of empathy. Their tales and their school speak to the best of who we are as a nation—and their struggles, their joys, their journeys will stay with you.” Alex Kotlowitz, author of There Are No Children Here

“Fishman unearths the inner lives of her subjects with care and precision and skillfully balances lighter moments with harrowing turns of events. The result is a powerful portrait of resilience in the face of long odds.” Publishers Weekly

“Educators and general readers alike will find this vividly intimate work insightful.” Library Journal

“As the only refugee in an Oklahoma high school in the 1990s, I used to have fantasies like this: what if a school existed that represented the wider world, everyone displaced, everyone applying for the same papers, pockets of society not defined by ill-fitting American markers, but following the precise contours of my own continent, its many faiths and colors? Refugee High is the realization of that daydream, and a riveting real-life answer to those youthful mysteries. A deep dive into an experiment I’ve always wanted to witness, meticulously researched, lovingly written, and rich in revelation.” Dina Nayeri, author of The Ungrateful Refugee

“Elly Fishman’s Refugee High takes readers inside one of the most remarkable schools in the country. Fishman brings to life the individual experiences of the school’s teenagers, teachers, and administrators, their struggles and joys. Through these intimate accounts, Refugee High shows the widening conflicts—of a city, a nation, and world—that concern us all.” Ben Austen, author of High-Risers

“No reader will be able to forget these students and the almost unimaginable hurdles they struggle to surmount, and no reader will forget the teachers who dedicate themselves to preventing the American Dream from becoming a betrayal.” Drew Faust, president emeritus, Harvard University

“Beautifully written, deeply reported, and bursting with humanity, Refugee High is a book you will read in a hurry and remember forever.” Jonathan Eig, New York Times bestselling author

Awards

  • Studs and Ida Terkel Award
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