Parenting with an Accent: How Immigrants Honor Their Heritage, Navigate Setbacks, and Chart New Paths for Their Children

“There is no formula for raising immigrant kids or for rebuilding a home from scratch in the new land,” writes journalist Rumer in her debut, an affirming guide to parenting as an immigrant. Rumer opens with her own experiences of communication troubles and peer judgment upon moving to California with her family as a teenage refugee from the former Soviet Union in the early 1990s, then digs into the choices immigrant parents face in raising children in the U.S. These choices, she writes, are influenced by traditions and values, a “visceral and unrelenting” desire to share the culture one came from, and American concepts of good parenting. Rumer devotes plenty of time to exploring bilingualism, sharing data on its cognitive advantages, stories of trying to convince kids to use their heritage language, and tips for encouraging bilingualism (“Caregivers, extended family members, and friends” can help with exposure). Rumer dishes up plenty of anecdotes as an immigrant Russian mother of two, and she smoothly integrates the perspectives and voices of other immigrant parents with backgrounds from around the world in a way that feels conversational, but always salient. With a wealth of empathy on offer, this will go a long way toward making parents who face similar situations feel understood. (Nov.)