Inspired by real-life refugee stories from Venezuela, this powerful picture book tells the story of Clara, a young girl who becomes a refugee and must leave everything behind. The book follows her difficult journey as she and her family walk long distances each day, sometimes talking and joking, other times hiding in silence for safety. At night in their tent village, Clara connects with other displaced children who share stories about their own “special homes”—the precious memories and items that bring them comfort in the darkness. The story explores themes of forced migration, resilience, and hope through a child’s perspective, showing how refugees carry pieces of home in their hearts even when they’ve lost everything material. The sensitive illustrations are drawn with a graphite pencil on heavy watercolor paper and hand-colored using digital methods. They help young readers visualize both the hardships of displacement and the enduring power of hope and human connection. An author’s note is included. mjw
| Title: My Home Is In My Backpack Author: Eugenia Perrella Illustrator: Angela Salerno Publisher: Floris Books. Edinburgh, Scotland Copyright: 2025 Original Language: Spanish Translator: Sally Polson Original Title: Mi casa especial Original Publisher: Editorial Amanuta Limitada. Santiago, Chile Original Copyright: 2023 ISBN: 978-178250-925-7 Hardcover pages: 32 Age range: 4-7 Genre: Picture Book Book setting: Venezuela Author’s ethnicity: Argentine Author’s residence: Buenos Aires, Argentina Illustrator’s ethnicity: Argentine Illustrator’s residence: Valencia, Spain Subjects: Community, Drawings, Force migration, Journeys, Refugees |
Narrated by a young refugee, this beautiful and realistic picture book tells about having to leave home and the healing power of hope. The girl and her mother used to live in an apartment with a star-shaped lamp in their window. In their new country, everything is different – the language, their apartment, and the food. One day, the mother brings home art supplies so that they can make a cardboard star just like the one they had back home. That helps to make their new place feel a little more like home. The penultimate page shows the girl with a new friend, both carrying their musical instruments. The mostly blue and yellow illustrations were created with hand drawn contours and Photoshop. An author’s note explains that the book was inspired by Desnitskaya’s experience leaving Russia after the start of the Ukraine War. It is the author’s hope that his book can help children from different countries who have lost their homes to start loving the place where they were forced to be. 
Set in 1980s Vietnam, Tho and his best friend, Lam, love cricket fighting, and soccer, but there is fear in his village that twelve-year-old boys, like them, will be conscripted into the Communist army. People are trying to leave Vietnam and move to safer countries. One day, Lam and his brother disappear. Tho’s family sells their furniture to make money to send Tho and his brother, Vu, away. Vu leaves first and a year later Tho boards a small boat to escape. He stows away on a pirate boat, crosses the South China Sea, and eventually gets to a refugee camp in Palawon in the Philippines, where he stays for six months. Finally, a Canadian elementary school teacher adopts him and he flies to his new home in Toronto. This harrowing story is based on true events in the author’s life. A map, a pronunciation guide, an afterword, and a brief recent history of Vietnam further enhance Tho’s intense account of his journey. 
After her parents’ divorce, ten-year-old Electra (Ellie) moves to a new town with her mother and older brother. She is a spunky and stubborn girl who wants to make friends at her new school. Unfortunately, all of her new classmates are into sports and her mother pushes her to join a sports team. She is clumsy, fails at every sport, and consequently gets bullied. One night she attends a ballet performance with her family and discovers that what she really wants to do is dance. A new boy at school helps her to realize her dream. This positive graphic novel for middle graders is filled with humor and energetic cartoon illustrations that will make young readers smile. mjw
This moving work of historical fiction spans over 50 years and three generations of a family. It starts in France in the 1920s and ends during the time of the 1960s Chinese Cultural Revolution in Shanghai. Young teen Ah Mei is close to her French grandmother. They even look alike. But in 1960s Shanghai, people are suspicious of their European heritage and looks, and of the grandmother’s interracial marriage. Maintaining the family’s silk business becomes difficult and the government takes the business away from them. They are left with very little, but there is still a way to live with grace and love and hope. The writing is beautiful, emotional, and very descriptive in this story of the importance of family bonds. mjw
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