Tag Archives: Migration

Story Worlds Nature

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9781848574809.jpgEvery picture tells a story. What do you think it is? Observe, inquire and wonder to discover the answers. Throughout this picture book, wordless images tell true stories of nature. The readers get to guess each story while looking at the minimalist animal illustrations showing scenes from around the globe. From puffins, to giraffes, to the simple tree frog, each animal is painted in its natural environment. At the end of the picture book, the story of each picture is explained with a short sentence describing what the animal is doing or experiencing. amo
Title: Story Worlds Nature
Author: Thomas Hegbrook
Illustrator: Thomas Hegbrook
Publisher: 360 Degrees; Tiger Tales
Copyright: 2016
ISBN: 978-1-944530-01-3
Hardcover pages: 64
Age range: 7-10
Genre: Picture Book
Book setting: Around the World
Subjects: Animals, Nature

The Sun Is Also A Star

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Natasha has hours left before she is deported to Jamaica. The logical aspiring scientist believes in facts and refuses to fall in love with someone she just met. Dreamer Daniel, who lives under the pressure of pleasing his Korean parents, believes Natasha is the one. That fate has made several events fall into place for them to meet.  With all of the possible futures there are, will their one day in New York City lead to a future together? Yoon’s multiple points of view in narration brings to light a variety of perspectives and emotions of the human experience. ema

 

Title: The Sun Is Also A Star
Author: Nicola Yoon
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Copyright: 2016
Original Language: English
Original Copyright: 2016
ISBN: 978-0553496680
Hardcover pages: 384
Age range: 14 and up
Genre: Young Adult Contemporary Fiction
Authors’ ethnicity: American, Jamaican 
Authors’ residence: Los Angeles
Awards: National Book Award finalist, Michael L. Printz Honor Book, and Coretta Scott King New Talent Award winner
Subjects: Immigration, Jamaican, Love, Multiple POVs, Poetry, Racism, Science, South Korean

 

My Beautiful Birds

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my-beautiful-birdsSami, his family, and his neighbors are escaping the bombs that have destroyed their Syrian home. Sami is heartbroken because he had to leave behind his pet pigeons. Once they reach the refugee camp and safety, everyone settles in as best they can. But Sami is not interested in soccer or painting. His life seems pointless. He cannot forget his birds. When some birds – a canary, a dove, and a rose finch – fly into the camp, Sami feeds them and provides material for their nests. This helps him begin his long healing process. Rich, textured illustrations fashioned from Plasticene, polymer clay, and other mixed media complement this moving story of one young refugee’s experience in the Syrian civil war. An author’s note gives information about refugee camps and the Syrian conflict. mjw
Title: My Beautiful Birds
Author: Suzanne Del Rizzo
Illustrator: Suzanne Del Rizzo
Publisher: Pajama Press.  Toronto
Copyright: 2017
Original Language: English
ISBN: 978-1-77278-010-9
Hardcover pages: 32
Age range: 6-10
Genre: Picture Book
Book setting: Syria
Author’s ethnicity: Canadian
Author’s residence: Canada
Illustrator’s ethnicity: Canadian
Illustrator’s residence: Canada
Subjects: Birds, Homelessness, Illness, Loss, Middle East, Poverty, Refugee camps, Refugees, Syria

Cloudwish

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cloudwishVan Uoc Phan is a shy, quiet Vietnamese teenager living in Australia with her parents who were asylum seekers after the fall of Saigon. She is a scholarship student at a prestigious Melbourne International Baccalaureate school. She plays the oboe, loves photography and Jane Eyre, and is being pushed by her parents to a high-prestige profession. She has a crush on Billy Gardiner. Billy lives in a mansion, is a star on the crew team, and loves pranks. Van Uoc wishes that Billy would notice her and fall in love with her. Miraculously, he does, but Van Uoc questions how this could happen. Fans of Jane Eyre will appreciate the writing style and all the mentions of Jane in this first-love story. mjw
Title: Cloudwish
Author: Fiona Wood
Publisher: Little Brown and Company, New York
Copyright: 2016
Original Language: English
Original Publisher: Pan Macmillan, Australia PTY, Ltd.
Original Copyright: 2015
ISBN: 978-0-316-24212-7
Hardcover pages: 320
Age range: 12 up
Genre: Fiction
Book setting: Melbourne, Australia
Author’s ethnicity: Australian
Author’s residence: Melbourne, Australia
Awards: 2016 Children’s Book Council of Australia Book of the Year: Older Readers
Subjects: Australia, Dating, Jane Eyre, Magic, Vietnamese, Wishes

Hidden

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HiddenAlix, 14, lives on quiet Hayling Island off the coast of England. One day at the beach, she and her friend Samir pull a drowning man out of the incoming tide. He is Mohammed, an asylum seeker, who was tortured by rebels in Iraq for helping the allied forces. Alix and Samir decide to hide Mohammed and, consequently, have to make choices that will determine whether Mohammed will live or die. Alix is a likeable and brave character who has problems of her own – Dad has left, Mom has a broken leg, and Grandfather just died. Samir is an Iraqi refugee who is bullied at their school. This thought-provoking book deals with important themes, like racism, immigration, diversity, and human rights.  mjw
Title: Hidden
Author: Miriam Halahmy
Publisher: Holiday House
Copyright: 2016
Original Language: English
Original Publisher: Albury Books
Original Copyright: 2011
ISBN: 978–0-8234-3694-1
Paperback pages: 224
Age range: 12 up
Genre: Fiction
Book setting: Hayling Island, England
Author’s residence: London, England
Awards: Nominated for the Carnegie Medal
Subjects: Asylum seekers, Gangs, Human rights, Immigrants-England, Iraqi, Political refugees, Racism, Terrorism

Stepping Stones: A Refugee Family’s Journey

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stepping-stonesThis stunning bilingual Arabic/English picture book was inspired by the unique stone-collage art of Syrian artist Nizar Ali Badr. It is the story of Rama and her family, who are forced to flee their once peaceful village to escape the devastation of the civil war. Taking only what they can carry on their backs, Rama, her mother and father, her grandfather, and her brother Sami, walk to freedom in Europe. The artist’s images are photographs of carefully placed stones, creating figures that come to life to tell the story.   A forward tells how the author discovered Badr’s art. mjw
Title: Stepping Stones: A Refugee Family’s Journey
Author: Margriet Ruurs
Illustrator: Nizar Ali Badr
Publisher: Orca Book Publishers
Copyright: 2016
Original Language: English and Arabic
Translator: Falah Raheem
ISBN: 978-1-4598-1490-5
Hardcover pages: 28
Age range: 9-12
Genre: Picture Book
Book setting: Syria and Europe
Author’s ethnicity: Dutch
Author’s residence: British Columbia
Illustrator’s ethnicity: Syrian
Illustrator’s residence: Syria
Subjects: Bilingual books, Civil war- Syria 2011, Refugee crisis, Refugees, Stone art, Syria.

Somos Como Las Nubes/We Are Like The Clouds

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somos-como-las-nubesOver 100,000 children have left Central America for the United States. The powerful poetry in this bilingual Spanish/English book describes the hardships and risks these children undertake and their hope for a new life in America. The first poems show the beauty of Central America. Next, they depict the problems, including gangs. The children face rough conditions with courage. The final poems take place in Los Angeles. The author was a refugee from El Salvador’s war in the 1980s. Beautiful surreal paintings complement the imagery of the poems. mjw
Title: Somos Como Las Nubes/We Are Like The Clouds
Author: Jorge Argueta
Illustrator: Alfonso Ruano
Publisher: Groundwood Books, Toronto
Copyright: 2016
Original Language: Spanish
Translator: Elisa Amado
ISBN: 978-1-55498-849-5
Hardcover pages: 36
Age range: 7-12
Genre: Picture Book/Poetry
Book setting: Central America and U.S.
Author’s ethnicity: Salvadoran and Pipil Nahua Indian
Author’s residence: San Francisco
Illustrator’s ethnicity: Spanish
Illustrator’s residence: Madrid
Awards: Author has won the International Latino Book Award.  Illustrator has won the Jane Addams Children’s Book Award
Subjects: Hispanic, Homelessness, Immigration, Latino, Poverty, Refugees, Stories in verse