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This story is about Klara's family who lives in Sweden. After her family suffers a series of illnesses and tremendous loss in their country, her father decides to make the voyage to America in search of a better life. This story describes some of the hardships Klara and her family went through to get to America.

This story is a story that I believe almost every American can relate to. We all have ancestors that came to America from another country in search of a better life. What I like about this story is that it really takes you back to what it must have been like for this little girl to leave her home and loved ones for a country she has only heard of.

A classroom extension would be to have students choose only three items to take with them if they were going to go on a voyage to another country and explain why they chose those items. For older students, I would send them home with questions for them to ask their parents and grandparents. What country did our ancestors come from? Why do you believe that they decided to come to America? How did they arrive here? What did they do once they arrived? Then they would summarize and present it to the class. ( )