Praise for Taxi To America
Taxi to America is a well-crafted and beautifully written story about loss and the importance of family and the personal core values of courage and resiliency in meeting life’s challenges.
Taxi to America is a must read for anyone who wants to understand the immigrant experience on an individual level. From the age of eleven, Stella goes through the immigrant struggles of becoming part of the United States to providing her gifts to this country as a parent, worker, and community member.
A primary loving and unconditional relationship is crucial to a child’s development. Orphaned at age ten and separated from her younger sister, Stella goes forth and gets “situated.” Stella perseveres with her strength, belief in herself, and the blanket of memories of her loving parents and yiayia. Taxi to America is an inspiring memoir of resiliency and the right to be loved and happy.
Stella Nahatis takes us on a tumultuous journey of how multiple losses impacted her life. In Taxi to America, we find ourselves immersed in her experiences and emotions which she recounts with honesty and compassion. As children we begin to experience loss at a very young age through cartoons, movies, a move to a new home, the death of a pet and possibly the death of a person. How these losses are experienced by children depends on whether they are recognized and shared by the adults, allowed to be expressed and explored through emotions, talk and play. For Nahatis and her younger sister at ages 7 and 10, loss became deeply personal with a tragic event in 1958. The losses they endured would ultimately shape who they would become as adults. In this deeply felt story of resilience and determination we see Nahatis flourish despite all the adversities—a testament of her strength.
As a special needs educator beginning in the early 70’s, often students arriving in this country without command of the English language were placed in special needs programs to help them adjust to their new school. There was often confusion in determining a language from a learning issue contributing to school difficulties. ESL programs within our schools was in its infancy. This is the first book I’ve ever read with a personal retelling of how the ESL program aided in acclimating to the American way. Stella flourished. A great read.
Stella Nahatis’ memoir, Taxi to America, offers readers an amazing and profoundly powerful journey through the deep emotional experiences of adoption, immigration, and assimilation seen through the eyes of a young child through adulthood. From a small village in northern Greece to the bustle of Boston, MA, the story is a vivid depiction of resilience, an embrace of a new culture and its emotional challenges and rewards of this powerful journey. Stella’s story is one of deep love for family, the acceptance and rewards of different cultural norms, and the curiosity and resilience of a young girl to be accepted and thrive in her new country while always carrying her love for her family and homeland. A must read.