num_pages: 166
description: First Person Fiction is dedicated to the immigrant experience in modern America. In "Behind the Mountains" Edwidge Danticat tells the story of Celiane and her family's struggles in Haiti and New York.It is election time in Haiti, and bombs are going off in the capital city of Port-au-Prince. During a visit from her home in rural Haiti, Celiane Espérance and her mother are nearly killed. Looking at her country with new eyes, Celiane gains a fresh resolve to be reunited with her father in Brooklyn, New York. The harsh winter and concrete landscape of her new home are a shock to Celiane, who witnesses her parents' struggle to earn a living, her brother's uneasy adjustment to American society, and her own encounters with learning difficulties and school violence.
language: English
title: Behind the Mountains
titlecomplete: Behind the Mountains
genres: Middle Grade, Realistic Fiction, Coming Of Age, Historical Fiction, Cultural, Young Adult, Diary, Teen, Family, Contemporary
ratings_count: 526
publisher: Scholastic Paperbacks