Refugee family

Mishka

Winner of the national book award for children’s literature in the Netherlands — a sweet and tender story of a girl refugee finding a new home! Roya, her three brothers, and their parents have a new family member — Mishka, a bunny rabbit. He soon becomes a beloved part of their new home and gradually, the rabbit — and also Roya — get to hear the story of the family’s journey from Afghanistan to the Netherlands. Told from different perspectives every time: big Bashir, gentle Hamayun, tough Navid, and sometimes Mom and Dad. Mishka and Roya listen. Anoush Elman and Edward van de Vendel became friends upon Elman’s arrival in the Netherlands, and fifteen years later, they decided to write a story for younger readers about his family’s experience. This gorgeous chapter book — illustrated throughout in full color — is a tender, lyrical story of a young girl processing a new country, new school, and new friends — and a bunny escape! — in a story readers and parents will treasure.

Featured in WOW Review Volume XVII, Issue 2.

The Rock In My Throat

In this moving true story, Kao Kalia Yang shares her experiences as a Hmong refugee child navigating life at home and school in America while carrying the weight of her selective mutism.

The Rock In My Throat is the WOW Recommends Book of the Month for December 2024.
The Rock In My Throat is featured in WOW Review Volume XVII, Issue 3.

A Star Shines Through

Amidst the upheaval of war, a young girl and her family leave their homeland and face the challenges of adapting to a new life in a foreign land, but find comfort in a star-shaped cardboard lamp reminiscent of the one they cherished back home.

A Feast For Joseph

When Joseph and Mama lived in a refugee camp in East Africa, everyone cooked and ate together. And Joseph could always hear someone playing the awal. It’s much too quiet and lonely in his new home. Though Whoosh, the girl who lives upstairs, is friendly, Joseph misses having more people around, especially his grandmother, who still lives across the ocean. So he invites his relatives in the city to come for dinner, then he invites his teacher, then Whoosh and her mami — but everyone is too busy.

Boy, Everywhere

Sami loves his life in Damascus, Syria. He hangs out with his best friend playing video games; he’s trying out for the football team; he adores his family and gets annoyed by them in equal measure. But his comfortable life gets sidetracked abruptly after a bombing in a nearby shopping mall. Knowing that the violence will only get worse, Sami’s parents decide they must flee their home for the safety of the UK.

Journey To America- Escaping the Holocaust to Freedom

In 1938, Lisa Platt and her family know something dangerous is happening in Germany. Lately, there have been more and more restrictions for Jews: yellow stars they have to wear, schools they cannot attend, things they are forbidden to do. When their neighbors are arrested for petty reasons, the Platts realize they have to escape.
Forbidden to bring money or possessions out of the country, Lisa’s father secretly leaves for America, planning to work until he can send for them. But when conditions in Germany worsen, Lisa, her mother, and her sisters flee to Switzerland to wait, surviving on what little they have in a continent hurtling toward war.

Gleam And Glow

After his home is destroyed by war, eight-year-old Viktor finds hope in the survival of two very special fish.