On the Block: Stories of Home
Edited by Ellen Oh
Crown Books for Young Readers
Published October 22, 2024
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About On the Block: Stories of Home
From We Need Diverse Books comes a heart-warming middle-grade anthology that follows the loosely interconnected lives of multigenerational immigrant families inhabiting the Entrada apartment building. Edited by Ellen Oh, a founding member of WNDB.”The beauty of their shared home does not come from any single person, but instead from the sum of their experiences” -Meg Medina, National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature
12 Families. 12 Cultures. 1 Building.Welcome to the Entrada, home to these everyday Americans, includingthe new kid on the block, who is both homesick and curiousa Popsicle-bridge builder, a ghost hunter, and a lion dancer their families, friends, and neighbors from all around the world!
Published in partnership with We Need Diverse Books, this uplifting anthology features award-winning authors Tracey Baptiste, David Bowles, Adrianna Cuevas, Sayantani DasGupta, Debbi Michiko Florence, Adam Gidwitz, Erin Entrada Kelly, Minh Lê, Ellen Oh, Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich, Andrea Wang, and Jasmine Warga.
These inspiring stories celebrate family, friendship, culture, and American immigrant life today.
My Review
I love how cleverly this story collection is put together. Each story is identified by the apartment number where the main character lives (or the story takes place… sometimes it’s a grandparents’ apartment) rather than a traditional title. The stories intersect and reference characters appearing in other stories, but each one could be read independently.
It was interesting reading the book and thinking about the location of each apartment in the building. I think it would have been really cool to have a table of contents or a kind of map that organized the stories visually, so that readers could note where each one takes place in relation to the others. A map of the overall building and surrounding area would have been fun, too. Maybe someone will make one online (or has already!).
Several of the stories center on immigrant families sharing traditional celebrations, food, and forming connections across cultural lines. The underlying message about community and neighborliness repeats in each story, sometimes subtly and other times more overtly.
As someone who grew up in a suburban neighborhood, I’m always fascinated with stories about apartment life. I imagine the same is true for other kids who grew up in similar ways.
Ellen Oh, CEO of We Need Diverse Books, edited the collection which features some well-known middle grade authors, and many that I’ve been meaning to read. The only author featured in the collection that I had read before is David Bowles. I will definitely read more by several of these authors.
I also own an e-book version of another collection edited by Ellen Oh, Flying Lessons and Other Stories, so I’m excited to read that now as well.
Content Notes
Recommended for Ages 8 to 12.
Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.
Romance/Sexual Content
References to a middle school student with a crush on someone.
Spiritual Content
One character lights incense and prays to their ancestors.
Violent Content
Reference to a child dying of pneumonia. (Happens off-scene.)
Drug Content
None.
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