Russell Freedman has published four other photobiographies. His Immigrant Kids is a tribute to the history of his own family, which along with thousands of other families passed through Ellis Island into New York City in the 1880s and 1890s. Some of the photographs are over a hundred years old, but the faces in them, Freedman says, are timeless.

Critics liked the book, but it was not a best seller.

Children of the Wild West, Cowboys of the Wild West, and Indian Chiefs appeal to young adults' interests in the perennially popular subjects their titles suggest. The books found a wide audience among young adults and were praised for their honesty and their fine contributions to the history of the West.