From: jomalley at caruspub.com <jomalley>
Date: Tue, 26 Mar 2002 15:54:44 -0600

Monica, thanks for raising the question about the change in title for the American edition. Very frankly, it's one I had, too. Though I knew it was Marc's decision, I'd not been sure of his reasons. So, I asked him:

I thought that the title, Paradise in America, was meant to be ironic, we hoped it would be a paradise, that's why we came, but as we found it out, there was a big price to pay in coming. That is a very interesting title, but challenging for fourth grade. While the element of irony could certainly be inferred by adults and most kids would ignore it, I thought a more direct title would work better. And it seemed to me the book was precisely about how Johann became Johnny, the transitions involved.

I also thought that the new title would speak to our very large current immigrant population, who are experiencing their own transitions. One of the things that most appealed to me about the book was that it could show a new immigrant that the people who seem so settled in being American had their own challenges not so very long ago.

Marc
Received on Tue 26 Mar 2002 03:54:44 PM CST