Thanksgiving provides a chance to celebrate the United States as a nation of immigrants. The holiday is a reminder that unless you're a Native American, your family came from somewhere else -- even if your ancestors arrived on the Mayflower.
Now, as at other times during our history, some folks want to limit immigration. In the 1840s, the Know-Nothing Party wanted to let in fewer Irish Catholics. Quotas set by the National Origins Act of 1924 reduced the number of immigrants from Italy, Poland, Russia and Greece.
These days, the increasing number of immigrants from Latin America and Asia have been blamed for everything from taking jobs away from Americans to sponging off the welfare system.
It helps to learn that the backlash against immigration isn't new. In "Still a Nation of Immigrants," by Brent Ashabranner, photographs by Jennifer Ashabranner (Cobblehill, $15.99, 144 pages, ages 10 and up), the author provides that context.
Mr. Ashabranner, who has written several award-winning nonfiction books on American social history, quotes from a letter Abraham Lincoln wrote in 1855:
"As a nation we began by declaring that all men are created equal," Lincoln wrote. "We now practically read it all men are created equal except negroes. When the Know-Nothings get control, it will read all men are created equal, except negroes, and foreigners, and Catholics. When it comes to this I should prefer emigrating to some other country where they make no pretence of loving liberty -- to Russia, for instance, where despotism can be taken pure, without the base alloy of hypocrisy."
Mr. Ashabranner writes of the forced immigration of Africans through slavery, explains current immigration laws, gives statistics (from 100,000 to 300,000 illegal aliens enter the country each year,more than half coming from Mexico) and interviews government officials and border patrol agents.
He also introduces readers to several immigrants. There is Huynh Thi Diem Thuy, the daughter of a U.S. serviceman and a Vietnamese woman, who is now one of 15,000 Amerasians living in the United States.
There are Atanasio and Maritza Navarro, an architect and lawyer, respectively, who fled Nicaragua when the Sandinistas came to power in 1979. After working in fast-food restaurants for several years, the Navarros opened their own Chinese restaurant in Jefferson City, Mo.
The author doesn't pretend there are only success stories. He writes about the friction between recent immigrants and African-Americans. He quotes a San Diego State University study of 600 refugees in that city, showing that 60 percent are on welfare.
Still, the people profiled are inspirational. They work long hours, sacrifice to provide for members of their extended family and struggle to learn English while hoping their children will remain proud of their native culture. They are, in short, just like all the other immigrants who have celebrated Thanksgiving in America over the past three centuries.
* Two other fine photo-essays provide a child's-eye view of immigration: "Over Here It's Different: Carolina's Story" by Mildred Leinweber Dawson, photographs by George Ancona (Macmillan, $14.95, 48 pages, ages 8-12), and "I'm New Here," by Bud Howlett (Houghton Mifflin, $14.95, 32 pages, ages 7-10).
Older readers will identify with Carolina Liranzo, 11. She was 7 when she moved from the Dominican Republic to Queens, N.Y., and adjusting to the new culture was very difficult.
Four years later, Carolina is joined by many of her cousins and aunts and uncles, who have moved into the same apartment building. One aunt stays home and takes care of the kids while Carolina's mother works as a legal secretary in Manhattan and her father works as a mechanic for a car dealer. He also rents garage space near their home in Queens, repairing cars during evenings and weekends, and hoping to open his own business.
"I'm New Here" is the story of Jazmin Escalante, whose family has just moved from El Salvador to California. Her first day of school is a disaster: She doesn't understand English; she's put in fourth grade even though she's old enough to be in fifth; her teacher mispronounces her name; and a bunch of boys harass her at lunch, shouting "Taco, Taco, Taco!"
By the end of the week, however, an English as a Second Language teacher assigns her to the correct class, and Jazmin gets a chance to impress the boys and girls with her soccer skills. Most important, she finds a friend in Allison. When a boy on the playground yells at them, "Salt and pepper! Salt and pepper!" Allison shakes him by the shoulders and he runs away.
* Signing sightings: Laura Krauss Melmed ("The Rainbabies," "I Love You As Much" and "First Song Ever Sung") will be at Stepping Stones bookstore in Bel Air at 1 p.m. tomorrow signing books, including her latest, "Prince Caspian."
At 1 p.m. Nov. 19, Kevin O'Malley ("Froggy Went A-Courtin,' " "Who Killed Cock Robin?" and "Bruno, You're Late for School!") will be at Stepping Stones. His latest is "What's for Lunch?"