Government bureaucracies across the globe have become increasingly attuned in recent years to cultural diversity within their populations. Using culture as a category to process people and dispense services, however, can create its own problems and unintended consequences. In No Family Is an Island, a comparative ethnography of Samoan migrants living in the United States and New Zealand, Ilana Gershon investigates how and when the categories "cultural" and "acultural" become relevant for Samoans as they encounter cultural differences in churches, ritual exchanges, welfare offices, and community-based organizations. In both New Zealand and the United States, Samoan migrants are minor minorities in an ethnic constellation dominated by other minority groups. As a result, they often find themselves in contexts where the challenge is not to establish the terms of the debate but to rewrite them. To navigate complicated and often unyielding bureaucracies, they must become skilled in what Gershon calls "reflexive engagement" with the multiple social orders they inhabit. Those who are successful are able to parlay their own cultural expertise (their "Samoanness") into an ability to subtly alter the institutions with which they interact in their everyday lives. Just as the "cultural" is sometimes constrained by the forces exerted by acultural institutions, so too can migrant culture reshape the bureaucracies of their new countries. Theoretically sophisticated yet highly readable, No Family Is an Island contributes significantly to our understanding of the modern immigrant experience of making homes abroad.

Instant New York Times Bestseller Longlisted for Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence 2020 New England Society Book Award Winner for Fiction “The Guest Book is monumental in a way that few novels dare attempt.” —The Washington Post The thought-provoking new novel by New York Times bestselling author Sarah Blake An exquisitely written, poignant family saga that illuminates the great divide, the gulf that separates the rich and poor, black and white, Protestant and Jew. Spanning three generations, The Guest Book deftly examines the life and legacy of one unforgettable family as they navigate the evolving social and political landscape from Crockett’s Island, their family retreat off the coast of Maine. Blake masterfully lays bare the memories and mistakes each generation makes while coming to terms with what it means to inherit the past.

From New York Times bestseller and Pulitzer Prize winner Junot Díaz comes a debut picture book about the magic of memory and the infinite power of the imagination. A 2019 Pura Belpré Honor Book for Illustration Every kid in Lola's school was from somewhere else. Hers was a school of faraway places. So when Lola's teacher asks the students to draw a picture of where their families immigrated from, all the kids are excited. Except Lola. She can't remember The Island—she left when she was just a baby. But with the help of her family and friends, and their memories—joyous, fantastical, heartbreaking, and frightening—Lola's imagination takes her on an extraordinary journey back to The Island. As she draws closer to the heart of her family's story, Lola comes to understand the truth of her abuela's words: “Just because you don't remember a place doesn't mean it's not in you.” Gloriously illustrated and lyrically written, Islandborn is a celebration of creativity, diversity, and our imagination's boundless ability to connect us—to our families, to our past and to ourselves.

For 200 years people have sought the treasure buried on Oak Island on Canada’s East Coast. Bob Restall got his chance, but it ended in tragedy. A fabulous treasure lies buried deep within an island on Canada’s East Coast. Or so they say. For more than 200 years, treasure-hunters have come to Oak Island, spent fortunes, worked long and hard, and left empty-handed. When Bob Restall and his family got their chance to search for treasure on Oak Island, they believed they soon would succeed where others had failed. But the island resisted. For nearly six years the Restalls lived and laboured on Oak Island, spurred on by small successes and tantalizing clues. And then one August day, the Restall hunt for buried treasure came to a sudden and tragic end. Oak Island Family, written by Bob and Mildred Restall’s daughter, gives a clear account of Oak Islands strange history and the Restall family’s attempt to change it. Personal notes and more than 50 never-before-published photographs and sketches help make Oak Island Family an engrossing read. Anyone who loves mystery, adventure, and a good human interest story will enjoy this book.

Far off the coast of California looms a harsh rock known as the island of San Nicholas. Dolphins flash in the blue waters around it, sea otter play in the vast kep beds, and sea elephants loll on the stony beaches. Here, in the early 1800s, according to history, an Indian girl spent eighteen years alone, and this beautifully written novel is her story. It is a romantic adventure filled with drama and heartache, for not only was mere subsistence on so desolate a spot a near miracle, but Karana had to contend with the ferocious pack of wild dogs that had killed her younger brother, constantly guard against the Aleutian sea otter hunters, and maintain a precarious food supply. More than this, it is an adventure of the spirit that will haunt the reader long after the book has been put down. Karana's quiet courage, her Indian self-reliance and acceptance of fate, transform what to many would have been a devastating ordeal into an uplifting experience. From loneliness and terror come strength and serenity in this Newbery Medal-winning classic.

Inspired by the “original” Swiss Family Robinson book written in 1812 by Johann David Wyss, Return to Robinson Island is a continuation of the adventures of the Robinson family fifteen years after their famous shipwreck. Return to Robinson Island is an entertaining, action-packed adventure story that has a thread of romance weaved throughout. It takes place fifteen years after the Robinson Family’s famous shipwreck on a remote island in the East Indies. The story highlights Ernest Robinson, who is now twenty-seven years old, engaged to be married, and is a 1st Lieutenant in the British Royal Navy. Ernest has distinguished himself as a fearless fighter, respected leader, God-fearing man, and loyal friend. However, his loyalty is tested when his commanding officer, Captain Charlie, is court-martialed on war crimes and Ernest has no choice but to tell the truth even if his testimony sends his former captain to prison. When reports reach England that a vast treasure trove has been found on Robinson Island, Ernest and his family find themselves in mortal danger when Captain Charlie vows to retrieve the treasure for himself and wreak revenge on the entire Robinson family. Will the Robinson Family survive the attack? Will Ernest ever see his fiancée again? One thing is certain: they won’t give up the island – or their lives – without a fight!