Community Corner
New Book Explores Immigrant Teens at International High School at Prospect Heights
Author Brooke Hauser chronicles the journey of several students in book to be released later this month.
The halls at the International High School at Prospect Heights are filled with 28 languages from teenagers hailing from 45 countries. Now, author Brooke Hauser is taking a deeper look at the lives of these new teenage immigrants and chronicling their journey in Brooklyn.
As first reported in the New York Daily News, Hauser is releasing a book later this month entitled, "The New Kids: Big Dreams and Brave Journeys." The book spends a year following five students at the school, all of whom are still learning English and have been at the school for less than five years.
"Everyone can relate to the feeling of being an outsider in high school, but these kids really have to overcome huge obstacles," said Hauser.
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The teenagers that are featured in the book include a girl from Yemen who is battling her family's desire to have her marry young with her own college aspirations, a boy from Tibet who hid in a suitcase while fleeing his country, and the son of a diamond miner from Sierra Leone who has an undocumented status.
The book is being distributed by Free Press/Simon and Schuster.
