About the Holiday
Today’s holiday celebrates the uniqueness of our “melting pot” culture and our tradition of welcoming those seeking a new and better life of opportunity. Most of America’s citizens can look back on a history of immigration, especially during the 19th century, when famine, oppression, and political upheaval threatened people’s lives and livelihoods. To honor today’s holiday, talk with your kids about your family’s history.
Thank you to Apples & Honey Press for sending me this book for review!
What Emma Wrote: The Woman Behind the Words on the Statue of Liberty
Written by Ann Diament Koffsky | Illustrated by N. Tarcan
Emma Lazarus was a born writer, penning stories, poems, and essays wherever she went. Her parents were so proud of her that they bound her work into a book for family and friends, but so many people wanted one that they had to print more copies. While Emma was happy with this accomplishment, she was also looking for new ideas. Then one day Emma heard a group complaining about the “many people who had recently moved to New York from other countries.” Emma thought about her own family, who had come from Brazil many years ago after the king made it illegal to be Jewish.
Emma wondered about the new immigrants’ stories and decided to talk to them herself. “She went to Wards Island, where many new immigrants lived.” She met a mother from Russia with young children and others who had come to America after their homes were burned because they were Jewish. Emma began helping this community, bringing them food and clothing and helping to set up a trade school to help them find work.
When Emma read an article in a popular magazine blaming the immigrants for their plight, she went to the magazine’s editor, who told her to write a rebuttal. Her first article led to many more, and soon these were changing people’s minds and conversations about the immigrants. Now, people wanted to help them and accept them as their own. Her work became so well-known that Emma was asked to write a poem about the Statue of Liberty. Emma imagined what the statue would say to those “who traveled so far to come to America,” and pictured her as a “mother, welcoming her children home.” She began to write: “Give me your tired, your poor, / Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free . . .”
People loved Emma’s poem, and “it inspired them to love the statue, too.” When her pedestal and the Statue of Liberty were finally settled in New York Harbor, the celebration attracted more than a million people. In the ensuing years, millions of people have traveled through New York Harbor to make America their home. Emma’s poem, “carved into a metal plate inside the statue’s base” welcomes each of them “with kindness.”
Back matter includes an Author’s Note about immigration in the 1800’s to early 1900’s and today, as well as the story of her own family’s immigration to America; facts about the Statue of Liberty; and a discussion of the deep connection between Emma and the Statue along with the text of Emma’s sonnet, “The New Colossus.”
Ann Diament Koffsky reveals Emma Lazarus as a profound thinker and writer with a big heart even from a very young age, who, instead of relying on hearsay and the voices of prejudice, sought the truth by talking to the immigrants herself and then acting on their behalf. Through her poignant use of Emma’s thoughts, various characters’ dialogue, and Emma’s family’s and other immigrants’ stories, Koffsky provides readers with an understanding of the underpinnings of immigration. Her compelling, well-paced prose will keep children riveted to the story and prompt them to want to learn more about their own family’s history of coming to America. Koffsky’s excellent portrayal of the impact of journalism on people’s opinions opens doors to discuss today’s communication methods.
N. Tarcan’s stunning illustrations of New York during the mid to late 1800s allow readers to experience the customs and lifestyle of Emma’s world during this period. Tarcan contrasts this with an image of the village in Brazil from which Emma’s ancestors escaped. Children see the trade school Emma established as well as her determination to help the immigrants on Wards Island and elsewhere. An image of the Statue of Liberty embracing an immigrant family is particularly moving and exemplifies Emma Lazarus’s warmhearted welcome to all.
What Emma Wrote: The Woman Behind the Words on the Statue of Liberty is a must for all public and school libraries and would be an inspiring and impactful addition to any home collection.
Ages 4 – 8
Apples & Honey Press, 2026 | ISBN 978-1681157191
About the Author
Ann D. Koffsky is an award-winning author and illustrator of more than thirty books for children, including The Peddler and the President, the Kayla and Kugel series, What’s In Tuli’s Box?, Under-the-Sea Seder, and Noah’s Swimathon, all published with Apples & Honey Press. She lives in West Hempstead, New York. Visit her at annkoffsky.com.
About the Illustrator
N. Tarcan is a Turkish illustrator. She studied photography at Yildiz Technical University, but life had other plans! One day, she was taking photos of a local circus and the next thing she knew, she was performing with them and traveling around the world—from Qatar to Georgia and beyond. When COVID hit, she decided to return to her first love: drawing. Today, she draws inspiration from the small details of everyday life. She lives in Namur, Belgium. Follow her on Instagram.
National Immigration Day Activity
What Emma Wrote Reading Guide and Activity Pages
You can find a detailed Reading Guide to What Emma Wrote with discussion questions, extension activities, coloring pages, character cut outs, and more on the Apples & Honey Press and Behrman House website and here.
You can purchase What Emma Wrote: The Woman Behind the Words on the Statue of Liberty from these booksellers
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Bookshop
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