Sign-In
Cart
Ohio Is My Second Country
Paperback
Coloring & Activity BooksBilingual EducationImmigration & Refugees
Publisher: Anacaona
Published: May 13 2026
Pages: 50
Weight: 0.40
Height: 0.14 Width: 8.50 Depth: 11.00
Language: English
Ohio is my second country. That is what Birane Wane, a Columbus father, said after he was deported to Mauritania. He was talking about how it is possible to love and be from more than one place.
Migration is a basic act of being human. People have always moved for safety and opportunity, since the beginning of time. And they always will. Ohio is home to people born in many different countries. They bring with them courage, commitment to family, and the desire to help their communities. It takes tremendous strength to start over in a new country. Ohio benefits from new residents who are helping our state succeed.
Ohio Immigrant Alliance and Shema Asifiwe created this book by asking immigrants to tell us about their native places. Contrary to stereotypes, they are not constantly bleak or war-torn landscapes. There is vibrancy, beauty, and many happy memories, even in countries experiencing conflict.
The decision to leave is not made easily, or without pain. Many migrants carry with them the feeling of being from two places for the rest of their lives, and love both. In addition to making a positive impact in Ohio, immigrants often support and give back to their families and communities in their first countries. Taking care of each other, building up the places we live and the places we left, is how we improve our world for future generations.
Who Is This Book For?This book is for everyone. Children and adults. Schools, libraries, and community groups. Individuals. It contains nineteen drawings, depicting scenes from sixteen countries and teaching words in fifteen languages. The final image is one of Shema and his friends - young people born all over the world, who now live in the same home, Cincinnati. The illustrations were drawn with varying detail, so that people with different motor skills can enjoy coloring.
Manuel Chinchilla, PhD, a language expert and the owner of Hexagon Books, researched languages spoken in these countries and identified the words to teach. Each illustration is accompanied by a text for learning. Lynn Tramonte, Executive Director of the Ohio Immigrant Alliance, edited the book and wrote the sections surrounding the artwork.
How to Use this BookWe created Teaching Tools, which can be downloaded from our ohioimmigrant.org/second-country, to assist educators, group leaders, librarians, and anyone else who wants to host group experiences using the book. Of course, the book works perfectly well as a solitary activity to wind down your day. We hope you enjoy Ohio Is My Second Country as much as we did putting it together. Share it and help spread the message that migration is human and Ohio is home.
Also in
Immigration & Refugees
El Paso: Five Families and One Hundred Years of Blood, Migration, Race, and Memory
Ulloa, Jazmine
Hardcover
Nature Knows No Color-Line: Research into the Negro Ancestry in the White Race
Rogers, J. a.
Paperback
The Snakehead: An Epic Tale of the Chinatown Underworld and the American Dream
Keefe, Patrick Radden
Paperback
How to Close a Camp: Dispatches from the Fight Against Immigrant Detention
Washington, John
Paperback
Harvest of Empire: A History of Latinos in America: Second Revised and Updated Edition
Gonzalez, Juan
Paperback
Shelter from the Storm: How Climate Change Is Creating a New Era of Migration
Hattem, Julian
Hardcover
Our Migrant Souls: A Meditation on Race and the Meanings and Myths of "Latino"
Tobar, Héctor
Paperback
Strangers in the Land: Exclusion, Belonging, and the Epic Story of the Chinese in America
Luo, Michael
Hardcover
Border and Rule: Global Migration, Capitalism, and the Rise of Racist Nationalism
Walia, Harsha
Paperback
Ciudadanía. Notas Sobre Un Mito Americano / Citizenship. Notes on an American Myth
Hernández, Daisy
Paperback
Immigration Detention Inc.: The Big Business of Locking Up Migrants in America
Hiemstra, Nancy
Conlon, Deirdre
Paperback
Kitchens of Hope: Immigrants Share Stories of Resilience and Recipes from Home
Svitak, Linda S.
Eaton, Christin Jaye
Dean, Lee Svitak
Hardcover
Not "A Nation of Immigrants": Settler Colonialism, White Supremacy, and a History of Erasure and Exclusion
Dunbar-Ortiz, Roxanne
Paperback
Growing Papaya Trees: Nurturing Indigenous Roots During Climate Displacement
Hernandez, Jessica
Paperback
Migration and the Origins of American Citizenship: African Americans, Native Americans, and Immigrants
Law, Anna O.
Paperback
The Cost of Being Undocumented: One Woman's Reckoning with America's Inhumane Math
Garcia, Antero
Dick, Alix
Hardcover
Strangers in the Land: Exclusion, Belonging, and the Epic Story of the Chinese in America
Luo, Michael
Paperback
Nature Knows No Color-Line: Research into the Negro Ancestry in the White Race
Rogers, J. a.
Hardcover
Sigh, Gone: A Misfit's Memoir of Great Books, Punk Rock, and the Fight to Fit in
Tran, Phuc
Paperback
Dignity Not Citizenship: The Truth about Immigration No One Is Telling You
Salazar, Maria Elvira
Hardcover
Impossible Subjects: Illegal Aliens and the Making of Modern America - Updated Edition
Ngai, Mae M.
Paperback
The Cost of Being Undocumented: One Woman's Reckoning with America's Inhumane Math
Dick, Alix
Garcia, Antero
Paperback
Somewhere We Are Human: Authentic Voices on Migration, Survival, and New Beginnings
Grande, Reyna
Guiñansaca, Sonia
Paperback
Detenido: El Diario de Supervivencia Y Determinación de Un Niño
Esperanza, David
Morales, Gerardo Iván
Paperback
Unforgetting: A Memoir of Family, Migration, Gangs, and Revolution in the Americas
Lovato, Roberto
Paperback
Migrant Midwest: The Case for Immigration and Economic Growth in the American Heartland
Burkham, Jonathan Mann
Hardcover
Learning to Lead: Grassroots Organizing in Immigrant Communities: Grassroots Organizing in Immigrant Communities
Terriquez, Veronica
Paperback
Fresh Fruit, Broken Bodies: Migrant Farmworkers in the United States, Updated with a New Preface and Epilogue Volume 27
Holmes, Seth M.
Paperback
Central America's Forgotten History: Revolution, Violence, and the Roots of Migration
Chomsky, Aviva
Paperback
Enrique's Journey: The Story of a Boy's Dangerous Odyssey to Reunite with His Mother
Nazario, Sonia
Paperback
The Asylum Seekers: A Chronicle of Life, Death, and Community at the Border
Rathbone, Cristina
Hardcover
The Stowaway in First Class: A True Story of an Unforgettable Quest to Come to America
DeSantis, Anthony
Hardcover
Harvesting Hope: One Girl's Journey from a Rwandan Farm to Global Science
Khalifa, Angelique
Paperback
The Darién Gap: A Reporter's Journey Through the Deadly Crossroads of the Americas
Fernández, Belén
Hardcover
Escape to Gold Mountain: A Graphic History of the Chinese in North America
Wong, David H. T.
Paperback
Latinoland (Spanish Edition): Un Retrato de la Mayor Minoría de Estados Unidos
Arana, Marie
Paperback
The Barbarous Years: The Peopling of British North America: The Conflict of Civilizations, 1600-1675
Bailyn, Bernard
Paperback
Dignidad, No Ciudadanía: La Verdad Sobre La Inmigración Que Nadie Te Cuenta
Salazar, María Elvira
Hardcover
A Greek Tragedy: One Day, a Deadly Shipwreck, and the Human Cost of the Refugee Crisis
Carstensen, Jeanne
Paperback
Education and Democracy in an Age of Encounter: What Schools Must Do Now (Large Print Edition)
Strom, Adam F.
Paperback
Welcoming the Stranger: Justice, Compassion & Truth in the Immigration Debate
Anderson, Leith
Soerens, Matthew
Yang, Jenny
Paperback
Must Read for Newcomers to America: Smart & Simple Tips to Succeed in Career, Family, and Life
Nguyen, Tom Nghia
Paperback
Stopping the Deportation Machine: One Immigrant Student's Arrest and the Kids Who Took on Washington to Get Him Back
Christopher, Bryan
Hardcover
Directory of Scots Banished to the American Plantations, 1650-1775. Second Edition (Revised)
Dobson, David
Paperback
In the Country We Love: My Family Divided (Updated with New Material)
Burford, Michelle
Guerrero, Diane
Paperback
Abolitionist Intimacies: Queer and Trans Migrants Against the Deportation State
Luibhéid, Eithne
Paperback
Black Ethnics: Race, Immigration, and the Pursuit of the American Dream
Greer, Christina M.
Paperback
We are Sicilians Not Italians: The Journey and History of the Early Sicilian Immigrants
Giuseppa Basile, Josie
Paperback
How to Close a Camp: Dispatches from the Fight Against Immigrant Detention
Washington, John
Hardcover
What We Remember Will Be Saved: A Story of Refugees and the Things They Carry
Saldaña, Stephanie
Paperback
Welcome the Wretched: In Defense of the "Criminal Alien"
García Hernández, César Cuauhtémoc
Hardcover
Border Afterlives: Migrant Deaths, Forensic Investigations, and the Politics of Haunting
Soto, Gabriella
Paperback
Now We Are Here: Family Migration, Children's Education, and Dreams for a Better Life
Oliveira, Gabrielle
Paperback
Migration and the Origins of American Citizenship: African Americans, Native Americans, and Immigrants
Law, Anna O.
Hardcover
The Far Away Brothers: Two Young Migrants and the Making of an American Life
Markham, Lauren
Paperback
Using Linguistically Appropriate Practice: A Guide for Teaching in Multilingual Classrooms
Chumak-Horbatsch, Roma
Paperback
Across Canons: Language, Latin American Immigrant Literature, and the Making of Latinx Narratives
Muñoz D., Thania
Paperback
Born at the Gates of Hell: A Doctor's Frontline Story of Delivering Babies in Al-Hol Camp in Syria
Milland, Maria
Paperback
Strangers in the Land: Exclusion, Belonging, and the Epic Story of the Chinese in America (Large Print Edition)
Luo, Michael
Paperback
A Seventh Man: A Book of Images and Words about the Experience of Migrant Workers in Europe
Berger, John
Paperback
Contentious Citizenship: Salvadoran Activism and Belonging Across Borders
Zimmerman, Arely M.
Paperback
A Greek Tragedy: One Day, a Deadly Shipwreck, and the Human Cost of the Refugee Crisis
Carstensen, Jeanne
Hardcover
Queering the Hmong Diaspora: Racial Subjectivity and the Myth of Hyperheterosexuality
Pha, Kong Pheng
Paperback
Deadly Divide: How Insects, Pathogens, and People Defied the Us-Mexico Border
Mendoza, Mary E.
Paperback
Last Boat Out of Shanghai: The Epic Story of the Chinese Who Fled Mao's Revolution
Zia, Helen
Paperback
In the Shadow of Liberty: The Invisible History of Immigrant Detention in the United States
Minian, Ana Raquel
Hardcover
Becoming American: Portland, Maine's Irish and the Making of Immigrant America 1840 - 1861
Barker, Matthew Jude
Paperback