ya/mg novels featuring refugees (great for libraries and classrooms!)

YA/MG Novels Featuring Refugees

What are they running from?• War/violence• Terrorism• Hunger/poverty• Religious persecution• Political persecution • Racial persecution

A Long Walk to Water• Alternates between two 11-

year olds in Sudan• Nya’s story is set in 2008—

Nya walks 2 hours to get water from a pond, twice each day

• Salva’s story is set in 1985—Salva is a “lost boy” of Sudan

• Themes: survival, importance of clean water

A Time of Miracles• Set in Republic of

Georgia during collapse of the Soviet Union

• 7-year old Blaise flees Georgia with his guardian Gloria

• Themes: family, survival

Bamboo People• 15-year old Chico wants to be

a teacher, but he is instead forced to join the Burmese army.

• Chico befriends 16-year old Tu Reh, who teaches Chico how to survive training in exchange for learning English

• Themes: friendship, survival, importance of learning to read

The Day of the Pelican• Meli is an Albanian girl

living in Kosovo, a country trying to fight off Serbian oppressors

• Themes: homelessness, starvation, illness, poverty

The Good Braider• Free verse• Viola tells the story of

her family’s journey from war-torn Sudan to Cairo to the USA

• Additional themes: adapting to a new culture, parent-child tension in new culture

Now Is the Time for Running• Deo and his older

brother, Innocent flee their war-torn village in Zimbabwe

• Additional themes: soccer, mental illness, poverty

Shooting Kabul

• In 2001, 12-year old Fadi’s parents decide to illegally leave Afghanistan

• Fadi’s little sister gets separated from the family

• Themes: survival, family, perseverance

I Lived on Butterfly Hill• Celeste’s family flees

Chile when artists, protesters, and people who help the needy are declared “subversive” and start disappearing

• Contains illustrations• Themes: protecting

loved ones, generosity, kindness, revolution

Where I Belong

• Set in Somalia• Mahmoud is kidnapped

and held for ransom. • In London, Khadija,

Mahmoud’s sister, tries to earn the ransom money

• Themes: identity, trust, family

The Red Pencil• 12-year old Amira hopes to

attend school, but her Sudanese village is attacked

• After losing everything, Amira walks on foot to a refugee camp

• Free verse with illustrations• Themes: importance of

education, perseverance

Zlata’s Diary

• Has been compared to The Diary of Anne Frank

• 11-year old Zlata witnesses war-torn Sarajevo, food shortages, bombardments, and the deaths of her friends

• Themes: courage, perseverance

Weedflower• 12-year old Sumiko is

American-born Japanese• After Pearl Harbor is

bombed, Sumiko and her family are sent to a Japanese internment camp

• Themes: belonging, friendship, racism, fear

Guantanamo Boy• 15-year old English boy

named Khalid is kidnapped from Pakistan while visiting relatives with his parents

• Taken to Guantanamo Bay and held without charge

• Themes: freedom, detainee rights

Outcasts United: A Refugee Team, An American Town

• A refugee settlement in Georgia becomes home to a youth soccer team made up of refugee children

• Themes: cultural differences, racism, power of play

Image Credits:• Barbed wire (slide 1) courtesy Christian Spies via

Unsplash– https://unsplash.com/search/barbed-wire?

photo=S5XON9lNFvo

• Exit sign (slide 2) courtesy Kev Seto via Unsplash– https://unsplash.com/@kevseto?photo=Jv0TBnjzYNM

• All cover images courtesy Goodreads– www.goodreads.com