Cartwheel has arrived in a new country, and feels the loss of all she's ever known. She creates a safe place for herself under an "old blanket" made out of memories and thoughts of home. But when she meets a new friend, the relationship helps her take her first steps into a new culture, and Cartwheel begins to weave a "new blanket," one of friendship and a renewed sense of belonging.

From rediscovering an ancestral village in China to experiencing the realities of American life as a Nigerian, the search for belonging crosses borders and generations. Selected from the archives of Catapult magazine, these essays highlight the human side of immigration policies and polarized rhetoric, as twenty writers share provocative personal stories of existing between languages and cultures.

"Situated more than one hundred miles off Italy's southern coast, the rocky island of Lampedusa has hit world headlines in recent years as the first port of call for hundreds of thousands of African and Middle Eastern refugees fleeing civil war and terrorism and hoping to make a new life in Europe. Dr. Pietro Bartolo, who runs the lone medical clinic on the island, has been caring for many of them -- both the living and the dead -- for a quarter century....

Having heard about Thanksgiving in school, nine-year-old Rivka tries to convince her immigrant family and her rabbi that it is a holiday for all Americans, Jews and non-Jews alike.

In this story based on true events, a treasured wooden chair is passed down from family to family, with each new owner carving the word "welcome" in a new language.

Arriving in New Zealand in 1866 to seek his fortune in the goldfields, Walter Moody finds himself drawn into a series of unsolved crimes and complex mysteries.

"Stories of remarkable American immigrants are brought to life in short, lyrical biographies written by Sara Nović and charming full-color illustrations by artist Alison Kolesar. Some of the names you'll find here are familiar: Founding father Alexander Hamilton was born and raised on the tiny Caribbean island of Nevis before coming to New York to pursue his education, and Yoko Ono's parents disapproved when she fell in with the bohemian art scene...

Summer, 1978. Among the thousands of Soviet Jews who have landed in Italy to secure visas for new lives in the West are the members of the Krasnansky family-- three generations of Russian Jews. Together they will spend six months in Rome-- their way station and purgatory.

In this stunning debut novel, a young woman tells the story behind two elderly sisters' estrangement, unraveling family secrets stretching back a century and across the Atlantic to early 20th century Italy. For Stella Fortuna, death has always been a part of life. Stella's childhood is full of strange, life-threatening incidents--moments where ordinary situations like cooking eggplant or feeding the pigs inexplicably take lethal turns. Even Stella's...

Liborio calls upon his highly-honed survival skills to escape Mexico, sharing his journey and speaking of migrants' social problems via love letters to his girl.