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Jessica Goudeau’s new book embeds the memoirs of two very different women in a primer on what it means to seek refuge in America.

So is our nation’s long history of choosing economic success over global equity, safety, and wellbeing.

As an American child growing up in Belgium and France, Laura Laurie mostly learned about American history from the popular American Girl books. Her favorite was Kirsten, the girl of the 1850s, who emigrated with her family from Sweden to a homestead in what is now Minnesota.

Now Laurie thinks it’s time for the popular toy company to tell a new story of coming to America. She’s started a petition asking American Girl to model its next doll after a modern refugee.