Friday, September 23, 2016

Books about Refugees for Children

From Far Away
Robert Munsch



























A little girl named Saoussan Askar, who was born in Beirut, Lebanon, moved to Ontario and began to send letters about her experiences as an immigrant to Robert Munsch. He wrote a story about it, and in the typical Munsch style, the book is entertaining and endearing. The story is written in the form of a letter.

Age appropriate: 5+
(Great read aloud!)






Breadwinner
Deborah Ellis



When Parvana's father is arrested, she has no other choice but to disguise herself as a boy and work so that her family can eat. This story carries all the breadth of life of war-torn Afghanistan, : laughter, heartache, courage and fear. An unforgettable read, and based on true stories of children Ellis met in refugee camps.

Age appropriate: 11+
(graphic violence)






Aram's Choice
Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch




Aram is chosen with fifty other boys to go to Canada. He has just survived the Armenian genocide and is determined to find a way to bring money home for his grandmother. Readers will enjoy this book on several levels: historical, pedagogical, religious, social, and artistic. Canadian Library Association Book of the Year for Children shortlist, 2007
Golden Oak nominee, 2008

Age Appropriate: 9+






Everybody Cooks Rice
Norah Dooley



A number of multicultural families live near each other--the one thing they have in common is that they all cook rice. The book includes recipes to make with your child.

Age Appropriate: Primary levels




Brothers in Hope: The Story of the Lost Boys of Sudan
Mary Williams



Eight-year old Garang must escape from his country, Sudan, and then join hundreds of boys fleeing to find refuge from war. On the way he makes new friends and discovers the importance of education. A book about courage and perseverance.
Winner of the 2006 Coretta Scott King Award.

Age appropriate 8+





The Arrival
Shaun Tan



It's my opinion that anyone, adults especially, who would like to experience what it feels like to be immersed into a completely different culture, should read this book. There are no words, only images, and like any foreigner new to a place who does not yet know the language, you have to decipher what is happening in the story along with the protagonist. The illustrations are remarkable, a true classic.

Age Appropriateness: All 





Fatima
Frederick Lipp



When Billy starts to make fun of Fatima's mother at school, Fatima makes the brave choice to wear her own hijab and talk to fellow students about respect. As her mother explains to her, "It's not what I look like, but what I say and do that matters." This is an engaging, moving, and informative story for all students who do not know about the purpose of the hijab or generally about Islam. Check out other stories by Frederick Lipp.

Age Appropriate: 7+




Sami and the Time of the Troubles
Florence Parry Heide and Judith Heide Gilliland



In war-torn Lebanon, Sami learns about what it means to hope for a brighter future. Enjoy the beautiful, evocative illustrations by Ted Lewin.

Age Appropriate: 10+






The Lion's Mane
Navjot Kaur

Image result for the lion's mane book
 This is another great read-aloud for school children. In The Lion's Mane, children will learn about the Sikh religion and why some people wear turbans. The book is easy to read and engaging with lively illustrations to go along with the meaningful text. 

Age Appropriate: 5 +




Four Feet, Two Sandals
Karen Lynn Williams and Khadra Mohammed






















This beautifully told and brightly illustrated book depicts what life can be like in a refugee camp.  Without making the situation too dark and depressing, the author chooses to focus on one difficulty that even the youngest of readers can relate to: not having shoes. Through this one detail, a young reader can pick up the book's themes of compassion and hope.


Age Appropriate: 5+ 

Review: Lights on the Nile by Donna Jo Napoli

Review: Lights on the Nile


Image result for lights on the nile

Lights on the Nile

By Donna Jo Napoli

I just finished reading Donna Jo Napoli's book Zel, which I enjoyed but did not find appropriate for the 9-12 year old audience it is marketed to. Lights on the Nile certainly seemed much tamer at first but it had some mature elements that I will list below.

In this story, a young ten-year old girl named Kepi travels up the Nile in search of her stolen pet baboon and for a chance to speak to the pharaoh. The story allows you to feel what it might have been like to be part of the working-class in Ancient Egypt, circa 2530 BCE. Napoli has certainly done her research, which makes the details come off as both very real, and slightly frightening:

-Kepi travels through a refuse pile and comes across a withered human hand
-After a vicious sandstorm, the body of a woman floats by Kepi on the river

Kepi, alone and vulnerable, is forced to fend off bandits, kidnappers, and ill-doers, which shows her incredible integrity and courage. Her difficulties also reveal the source of her secret strength: Kepi is a very pious young girl and is constantly praying to her Egyptian gods who appear to be listening and helping. As she travels up the Nile, the gods come in the forms of beetles, ibises, crocodiles, and hippopotamuses to fend off trouble, even if it means that sometimes these protective animals kill her would-be antagonists.

My Opinion:

Kepi is a wonderful heroine, full of spunk, personality, wit, courage, and humility.

The story is a real page-turner and Napoli's writing style is engaging and active, and she leaves readers with great cliff-hangers at the end of every chapter.

Unfortunately the ending threw out the best parts of the story. Kepi has waited months and gone through excruciating trials to finally encounter the pharaoh and plead with him for justice for middle-class workers. She begs him that workers like her father should be given compensation for injuries attained from working on the pyramids. We do not learn the consequence of this encounter (and neither does Kepi get her baboon back); instead, the goddess Hathor jumps in to offer Kepi two alternative endings: the first, to return home to her family; and the second, to become a feri (fairy) and be a personal helper to the goddess. She chooses to become a fairy. All the intricate and beautiful workings of plot that depict working-class life go completely out the window as Kepi takes the opportunity to ditch her old life and claim a higher status with the goddess. Her role in life now is to offer consolation in the form of tinkling bells to the ailing pyramid workers, not to mention her family in mourning over her supposed death.

Age Appropriateness:

Like Zel, there are some more mature elements to this story that make it hard to place the book into a single age category.

Since the heroine is 10 years old, she should appeal to girls around 9-11; however, incidences of characters getting drunk and stark depictions of death (mentioned above), would put the book in the more mature category of 12-13 year old's.

The author takes a very historically-accurate stance to life in Ancient Egypt and describes how Kepi's older sister is eager to get married at 12. Therefore, the fact that Kepi is 10 does actually not tell us modern readers anything about the age-appropriateness of this novel. The same can be said of the young heroine in Zel, who is eager to be married at 14, and has a child out of wedlock at 16.