Stormy Seas: Stories of Young Boat Refugees

Stormy Seas: Stories of Young Boat Refugees by Mary Beth Leatherdale and Eleanor Shakespeare takes you on the eye-opening and heartbreaking real journeys of five young people who flee their countries, risking their lives to find a safe place to call home. These chilling stories of courage, resilience, and survival will tug at your heart. …

Girl Rising: Changing the World One Girl at a Time by Tanya Lee Stone, in association with Girl Rising

Worldwide, more than 62 million girls are not in school. There are many barriers that prevent girls from attending schools such as poverty, child marriage, gender discrimination, sex trafficking, and slavery. Despite these hardships, some resilient, determined, and empowered girls are using their voice to change the world. In Girl Rising: Changing the World One …

Refugee by Alan Gratz

Three different kids. Three different periods in history. All with one mission in common: escape. Alan Gratz masterfully weaves together three refugee stories in this engaging and important historical fiction novel. Josef is escaping Nazi Germany in the 1930s, Isabel is leaving Fidel Casto’s Cuba in 1994, and Mahmoud is fleeing Syria's civil war in …

I Remember Beirut

“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”- George Santayana Abirached uses black and white images in her graphic memoir I Remember Beirut to bring to light a sad piece of history that is often brushed aside and forgotten. Abirached grew up in Beirut during the Lebanese civil war. She remembers the details …

Seeking Refuge by Irene N. Watts and illustrated by Kathryn E. Shoemaker

A brief history lesson In an effort to rescue Jewish children from the Nazi regime, the Kindertransport was created. The United Kingdom waved immigration paperwork to allow these children to escape persecution. The first Kindertransport arrived in London in 1938, bringing two hundred Jewish children from Berlin. In the nine months preceding World War II, …

The Good Braider by Terry Farish

This novel-in-verse tells the story of sixteen-year-old Viola’s journey from war-torn South Sudan, to Cairo, Egypt, and finally to a refugee community in Portland, Maine. Step inside Viola’s shoes and experience the heartache, love, loss, and hope her story has to offer. Verdict: This is an important novel for all to read. It touches on …