A new children's book examines the struggles of turn-of-the-20th-century miners in Minnesota. The Journal of Otto Peltonen: A Finnish Immigrant is the story of a 16-year-old boy who travels to the Iron Range from Finland with his family in 1905. He and his father work in the mines—dangerous, dirty, backbreaking work—to earn money to buy land for a farm.

The book is part of the popular My Name is America series—fictional historical journals written for children in grades three through nine. Minnesota Public Radio's Stephanie Hemphill talked with the author, Lake Vermilion-based writer Bill Durbin.