Classroom Resources on Refugee & War Experiences

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The following is a list of books that can be used in the classroom to help educate students from all backgrounds on the effects of war and political violence. This list is not comprehensive but rather a compilation of books that can be accessed at no cost through the public library system. The books have been categorized according to region of the world and labeled according to age appropriateness (EL=elementary, MS=Middle School, HS=High School.) However, it is up to each individual instructor to determine if the book is appropriate for her/his classroom.

Areas

Series

Africa

Asia

Eastern Europe

Central & South America

Middle East

World War II

Stories of Peace and Courage


Caught in the Crossfire: Growing Up in a War Zone. Maria Ousseimi. New York: Walker and Company, 1995.

Critically acclaimed photographer and documentary film maker Maria Oussemi travels to Lebanon,
Bosnia Herzegovina, Mozambique, and El Salvador to interview children growing up in a war zone. With unflinching photographs and haunting first hand stories she captures the physical and psychological devastation of war. Includes a final, compelling piece on the “street wars” of Washington D. C. HS

Why Do They Hate Me? Young Lives Caught in War and Conflict. Laurel Holliday. New York: Packet Books, 1999.

From the centuries-old enmities of Northern Ireland, to the Holocaust and World War II, to the Israel-Palestine conflict, young people share their innermost secrets of growing up. On these pages they vividly record their experiences and offer eyewitness accounts of fear and courage, tragedy and triumph. HS

Quilted Landscape: Conversations with Young Immigrants. Yale Strom. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1996.

Using the words, pictures, poems and drawings of young immigrants (ages 11 through 17), Strom offers a rich patchwork of experiences, memories and perspectives unified in their unassuming courage and resounding pride in their roots. MS

Series

In Their Own Voices. Rosen Publishing Group. MS

Following a brief description of each country's history and culture are six to eight interviews with native teenagers who are now living in the U.S. The young people talk about their lives here and in their homeland, their trip to the U.S., and the adjustments they have made.

Series includes:
Palestinian Teenage Refugees and Immigrants Speak Out
Teenage Refugees and Immigrants from India Speak Out
Teenage Refugees and Immigrants from Bosnia-Herzegovina Speak Out
Teenage Refugees and Immigrants from Cambodia Speak Out
Teenage Refugees and Immigrants from China Speak Out
Teenage Refugees and Immigrants from Eastern Europe Speak Out
Teenage Refugees and Immigrants from Ethiopia Speak Out
Teenage Refugees and Immigrants from Guatemala Speak Out
Teenage Refugees and Immigrants from Haiti Speak Out
Teenage Refugees and Immigrants from Iran Speak Out
Teenage Refugees and Immigrants from Mexico Speak Out
Teenage Refugees and Immigrants from Nicaragua Speak Out
Teenage Refugees and Immigrants from Russia Speak Out
Teenage Refugees and Immigrants from Vietnam Speak Out


Journey Between Two Worlds. Minneapolis, MN: Lerner Publications.

Each book in the Journey Between Two Worlds series shares the difficult and often dangerous life of a refugee family in their native country and describes their subsequent journey to the United States. You will learn how the family has adjusted to a new culture while still preserving the traditions of their homeland. EL

Series includes:
An Armenian Family
A Bosnian Family
An Eritrean Family
A Guatemalan Family
A Haitian Family
A Kurdish Family
A Liberian Family
A Mien Family
A Nicaraguan Family
A Russian Jewish Family
A Sudanese Family
A Tibetan Family


Why We Left. Austin, TX: Raintree Steck-Vaughn, 1995.

Introduces children to the history, culture, and life-styles of displaced children who, for one reason or another, have been forced to leave their homes. Simple narrative supported by extensive color photographs and illustrations. EL

Series includes:
I Remember Bosnia
I Remember China
I Remember India
I Remember Palestine
I Remember Somalia
I Remember Vietnam


World in Conflict. Minneapolis, MN: Lerner Publications

Each title in the World in Conflict series examines one conflict, in detail, providing readers with the background information necessary to understand how each conflict starts in the first place and how it has escalated to become headline news. The book’s final chapter discusses attempts to achieve peace on both the international and grassroots levels. MS

Series includes:
Bosnia: Fractured Region
Cyprus: Divided Island
East Timor: Island in Turmoil
Haiti: Land of Inequality
Kurdistan: Region under Siege
Northern Ireland: Troubled Land
Quebec: Province Divided
Rwanda: Country Torn Apart
South Africa: Nation in Transition
Sudan: North against the South
Tibet: Disputed Land

Africa

One Day We Had to Run: Refugee Children Tell their Stories in Words and Paintings. Sybella Wilkes. Brookfield, Conn.: Millbrook Press, 1994.

The children's stories and paintings in this book give a striking picture of the experiences of refugee children through their own eyes. These are set against very accessible background information about Somalia, Sudan and Ethiopia, which helps to explain why refugees have been forced to flee from these countries. EL

Rwanda: Fierce Clashes in Central Africa. Keith Greenberg, photographer: John Isaac, Woodbridge,
Connecticut: Blackbirch Press, 1997.

A UN Staff photographer presents an overview of Rwanda's history, focusing on the civil war between the Hutus and Tutsis, and the particular struggles of Innocent, a young refugee. EL

The Lost Boys of Natinga: A School for Sudan's Young Refugees. Judy Walgren. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1998.

A vivid photo essay that depicts daily life at Natinga, a refugee camp and school established in 1993 in southern Sudan for boys forced from their homes by civil war. MS

Asia

Two Lands, One Heart: An American Boy’s Journey to his Mother’s Vietnam.Jeremy Schmidt and Ted Wood. New York, New York: Walker and Company, 1995.

Nineteen years after his mother fled Saigon, TJ makes the long journey to Vietnam where he meets his grandparents, uncles, aunts, and cousins and gets an exhilarating firsthand taste of the country and culture his mother left behind. Very moving text and color photographs. EL

Boy Named Chong. Brian and Heather Marchant, ill. Ya Lee. Green Bay, WI: Project Chong, 1994.

This children’s book is written in English (limerick style) and Hmong, and discusses children's issues with being a refugee. EL

The Whispering Cloth: A Refugee's Story. Pegi Deitz Shea. Honesdale, PA: Boyds Mills Press, 1995.

A young girl in a Thai refugee camp finds the story within herself to create her own pa'ndau (embroidered story cloth).EL

Dia’s Story Cloth. Cha Dia, New York: Lee & Low Books, 1996.

The story cloth made for her by her aunt and uncle chronicles the story of the author and her family in their native Laos and their eventual emigration to the United States. EL

My Freedom Trip. Frances and Ginger Park, ill. Debra Reid Jenkins. Honesdale, PA: Boyds Mill Press, 1998.

The story of a young girl's escape from North Korea, based on the life of the author's mother. EL

Leaving Vietnam: The True Story of Tuan Ngo. Sarah Kilborne, New York, NY: Simon & Schuster, 1999.

Tells the story of a boy and his father who endure danger and difficulty when they escape by boat from Vietnam, spend days at sea, and then months in refugee camps before making their way to the United States. Ready-to-Read, Level 3, Reading Alone Edition. EL

Who Belongs Here: An American Story. Margy Burns Knight. Gardiner, ME: Tillbury House Publishers. 1993.

Describes the new life of Nary, a Cambodian refugee, in America, as well as his encounters with prejudice. By expanding on the troubles Nary faces, the author offers an introduction to U.S. immigration and human rights history along the way. The author also asks pointed questions within the text of the book, designed to stimulate discussion. EL

Escaping to America: A True Story. Rosalyn Schanzer, Singapore: Tien Wah Press/HarperCollins Publishers, 2000.

Tells how the author’s family left difficult conditions in Poland to make a better life for themselves in America in the early twentieth century. Though their story was unique in many ways, Schanzer realized that similar circumstances affect children coming to America to this very day, In honor of all their brave journeys, she began to write this book. EL

Children of Vietnam. Betty Jean Lifton. New York: Atheneum, 1972.

Introduces several Vietnamese children with varying backgrounds (refugees, orphans, street children, hippies, mixed-blood, war wounded, etc.), but all are children of war who have never known peace. MS

Fighters, Refugees and Immigrants. Mace Goldfarb, M.D., Minneapolis, MN: Carolharda Books, Inc., 1982.

A beautiful and moving photo essay by a pediatrician who volunteered his services to the Hmong waiting to come to the U.S. at the Ban Vanai refugee camp in northeastern Thailand. Includes brief historical note on the Hmong people, as well as their relationship with the U.S. MS

Eastern Europe

Gleam and Glow.Eve Bunting, San Diego: Harcourt, 2001.

After his home is destroyed by war, eight-year-old Viktor finds hope in the survival of two very special fish. Inspired by a true, yet magical story from Bosnia-Hergozovina, but retold to apply to people everywhere who have been forced from the lives they have known, and find hope in the most unexpected places. EL

I Dream of Peace: Images of War by Children of the former Yugoslavia.Maurice Sendak, James P Grant. New York: Harper Collins Publishers, 1994.

UNICEF collected drawings, letters, and poems from schools and refugee camps in the former Yugoslavia as part of its psychological assessment program for war traumatized children. EL

One Boy from Kosovo. Trish Marx. Harper Collins Publishers, 2000.

Tells the story of 12-year-old Edi Fejsullah and his family, Albanians who fled their home in Kosovo to live in a Macedonian refugee camp when the Serbs adopted a policy of ethnic cleansing against the Albanians. Beautiful color photographs. EL

Young People from Bosnia Talk about War.Harvey Fireside and Bryna J. Fireside. Springfield, NJ: Enslow Publishers, Inc., 1996.

Gives a brief description of the conflict in Bosnia, including several personal stories of tragedy told by the young people who lived through them. MS

My Palace of Leaves in Sarajevo. Marybeth Lorbiecki, New York: Dial Books for Young Readers, 1997.

In 1991, ten-year-old Nadja begins writing to her cousin in Minnesota, and over the next four years her letters reveal the horrors of war in this former republic of Yugoslavia, while her cousin’s letters give Nadja and her family some hope. MS

Zlata's Diary: A Child's Life in Sarajevo. Zlata Filipovic. New York: Viking, 1994.

Written over a two-year period starting (just before her eleventh birthday) in September 1991 when there was peace in Sarajevo and ending in October 1993, this diary provides a view of the onslaught of war through the eyes of a bright, young, intelligent and once carefree young girl. MS

Central & South America

I Speak English for My Mom.Muriel Stanek, A. Whitman, 1989.

Lupe, a young Chicana, must translate for her mother who speaks only Spanish until Mrs. Gomez decides to learn English in order to get a better job. EL

Spoken Memories, Painted Words. Aliki. NY: Greenwillow Books, 1998.

Two separate stories in one book: the first story telling of Marianthe starting school in a new land, and the second story describing before her family left in search of a better life. With the help of her mother’s wisdom and the kindness and patience of her teacher, Marianthe makes the brave and difficult movement from “talking with her paints” to finally telling her story with words. EL

The Long Road. Luis Garay. Plattsburgh, NY: Tundra Books, 1997.

The story of one boy’s journey with his mother from life in a Latin American village interrupted by civil war to a new home in North America. This book details the steps along the way including hiding from soldiers, interviews with officials, life at a shelter, the boy’s worries, language classes and finally moving into a place of their own. EL

Children of the Maya: A Guatemalan Indian Odyssey. Brent Ashabranner. New York: Dodd, Mead, 1986.

Examines the plight of Mayans who have fled the violent political situation in Guatemala and settled in a
community in South Florida. HS

Middle East

Neve Shalom: Wahat al-Salam: Oasis of Peace. Laurie Dolphin. Scholastic, 1993.

Text and photos present the lives of two boys, one Jewish and one Palestinian, who attend school in a unique Israeli community "known as Oasis of Peace, or in Hebrew and Arabic and Neve Shalom/Wahat al-Salam" where Jews and Palestinians live together in peace. Includes glossary and "Hebrew/Arabic language comparison."EL

The War Began at Supper: Letters to Miss Loria. Patricia Reilly Giff. New York: Delacorte Press, 1991.

The children in Mrs. Clark's class write letters to their former student teacher about events at school mixed with comments on the Persian Gulf Crisis. EL

If You Could be My Friend: Letters of Mervet Akram Sha’ban and Galit Fink. Sha’ban, Mervet Akram. New York: Orchard Books, 1998.

The actual correspondence between an Israeli and Palestinian girl in wartorn Israel from August 1998 until their meeting in October 1991. Presented by Litsa Boudalika, a Belgian (of Greek origin) documentary film producer. Mervet and Galit’s relationship was the basis of a documentary called “Duo,” shown on French television during the Middle East peace negotiations in Madrid, Spain, in October 1991. MS

Samir and Yonatan. Damiella Carmi. New York: Arthur A. Levine Books, 2000.

Samir, a Palestinian boy, is sent for surgery to an Israeli hospital where he has two otherworldly experiences, making friends with an Israeli boy, Yonatan, and traveling with him to Mars, where Samir finds peace about his brother's death in the war. MS

Gavriel and Jemal: Two Boys of Jerusalem. Brent Ashabranner. New York: Dodd, Mead & Co., 1984.

Explores the lives of a 12-year-old Jewish boy and 14-year-old Palestinian boy growing up in a city holy to Arabs, Jews, and Christians alike. MS

The Secret Grove. Barbara Cohen. Union of American Hebrew Congregations, 1985.

Two young boys, one Israeli, the other Arab, meet in an orange grove that separates their two border villages. They refuse to accept the stereotypes of their parents and become friends. MS

Jerusalem Mosaic: Young Voices from the Holy City. Mozeson, Isaac. New York: Four Winds Press, 1994.

Interviews with Jewish, Muslim, and Christian teenagers living in Jerusalem during the summers of 1992 and 1993, relate their thoughts about family, school, community, politics, relationships and dreams. MS/HS

Youth in the Middle East: Voices of Despair. Abodaher, David. J. F. Watts, 1990.

Conversations with young people in the Middle East depict the political strife there and how it has affected their lives. HS

World War II

My Secret Camera: Life in the Lodz Ghetto. Mendel Grossman (photographs) and Frank Dabba Smith (Text), Hong Kong: Gulliver Books, Harcourt, Inc., 2000.

Photographs taken secretly by a young Jewish man document the fear, hardship, generosity, and humanity woven through the daily life forced to live in the Lodz ghetto during the Holocaust. EL

Children and War. Robin Cross. NewYork:ThomsonLearning, 1994.

Detailed, yet accessible, historical depiction of children’s experience of WWII. Includes information about children of the Gulag, the labor camps, the resistance, the Hitler Youth, the Holocaust, and of Hiroshima, as well as the origins of the American “teenager.” EL/MS

One More Border: the True Story of One Family’s Escape from War-Torn Europe. William

Kaplan with Shelley Tanaka, Toronto, Ontario: Groundwood Books/Douglas & McIntyre, 1998.
The gripping story of the Kaplan family’s harrowing effort to flee Hitler’s advance. Accompanied by sidebars, archival photographs, and maps that help readers understand the story’s historical and geographical content. EL/MS

My Brother’s Keeper: the Holocaust through the Eyes of an Artist. Israel Bernbaum, New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1985.

The author describes the Holocaust and explains how he tries to tell the story of that catastrophic event through his art. Striking language, vivid color, and incorporated historical photos and maps, all combine to make a shocking impact. Ultimately, Bernbaum wants each of us to ask ourselves, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” MS

After the War. Carol Matas. New York: Simon and Schuster Books for Young Readers, 1996.

After being released from Buchenwald at the end of World War II, fifteen-year-old Ruth risks her life to lead a group of children across Europe to Palestine. A story that depicts the resources and inner strength of mere children helping other children find a place in this world where they can belong. MS

The Garden. Carol Matas. New York: Simon and Schuster Books for Young Readers, 1997.

After leading a group of Jewish refugees to Israel after World War II, sixteen-year-old Ruth joins the Haganah, the Jewish army, and helps her people fight to keep the land granted to them by the United Nations. Sequel to After the War. MS

Tell Them We Remember. Susan D. Bachrach, Little, Brown and Company, 1994.

Drawing on the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum’s large collection of artifacts, photographs, maps, and taped oral and video histories, this book tells the story of the Holocaust and how it affected the daily lives of innocent people throughout Europe. HS

The Children of Topaz: The Story of a Japanese/American Internment Camp. Michael O. Tunnell and George W. Chilcoat. NY: Holiday House, 1996.

The diary of a third grade class of Japanese Americans children being held with their families in an internment camp during WWII. Includes commentary and archival photographs, which place the diary in a historical context, expanding on the details of daily life in a war relocation camp. MS

All the Children Were Sent Away. Sheila Garrigue. Scarsdale, NY: Bradbury Press, 1976.

An eight-year-old British girl experiences loneliness and fear when she and many other children are evacuated to Canada during WWII. MS

The Eternal Spring of Mr. Ito. Sheila Garrigue. New York: Bradbury Press, 1985.

In this sequel to All the Children Were Sent Away, the fate of a 200-year-old Bonsai tree is decided by a young girl and an old Japanese Canadian gardener who resists imprisonment in an internment camp. MS

Tug of War. Joan Lingard, Lodestar Books, 1990.

Follows the fortunes of the Peterson family as they flee their native Latvia before the advancing Soviet armies in late 1944 and find themselves homeless refugees in a war-torn Germany. Based on the experiences of author’s husband and his family. MS

Between Two Worlds. Joan Lingard. New York: Lodestar Books, 1991.

Immigrants to their new homeland, Canada, after WWII, a family of Latvian refugees is beset by serious illness and financial hardship; therefore the three children must go out and find jobs. Sequel to Tug of War. MS

Stories of Peace and Courage

Angel Child, Dragon Child.Michele Maria Surat, Pictures by Vo-Dinh Mai, New York, NY: Carnival Press, 1983.

Ut has just come to the United States from Vietnam, she does not like her new American school and her mother had to stay behind in Vietnam. The children all laugh and pick on her, until surprisingly, one of them thinks of the perfect way to help her. EL

Sitti’s Secrets. Nye, Naomi Shihab. New York: Four Winds Press, 1994.

A young American girl describes a visit to see her grandmother in a Palestinian village on the West Bank. A welcoming picture book that gently touches on the issues of human connections and family traditions that defy distance and time and the longing for peace. EL

Passage to Freedom: the Sugihara Story. Ken Mochizuki, New York: Lee & Low Books, Inc., 1997.

The story of the famous Chiune Sugihara, the Japanese consul to Lithuania in 1940, based on the words of then 5-year-old Hiroki, Sugihari’s eldest son. Against the will of his government, Sugihara saved the lives of thousands of Jewish refugees in 1940 by writing visas that would allow them to leave Russia and flee to Japan. A story that author, Sugihara’s eldest son, believes “will inspire you to care for all people and respect life. It is a story that proves that one person can make a difference. EL

A Million Visions of Peace. Jennifer Garrison and Andrew Tubesing. Duluth, MN: Pfeifer Hamilton, 1995.

In response to Old Turtle and the Old Turtle Peace Tour, children and adults from all fifty states expressed their heartfelt desire for a more peaceful world. The messages of peace printed in this book were selected from hundreds of thousands gathered during the tour. EL

How the Children Stopped the Wars. Jan Wahl. Berkley, CA: Tricycle Press, 1993.

Inspired by a mysterious stranger, Uillame starts a children's crusade to stop the wars that have called away their fathers, uncles, and brothers. He must face the temptations of Hot Groggk, the treachery of pirates, and, always, his own doubts. But he sets out anyway, and in this tale about believing that one person can make a difference, readers may find inspiration for their own crusades. MS


The Hiding Place. Corrie ten Boom. 1971.

The story of Corrie ten Boom and her family who, during the Nazi invasion and the occupation of Holland, became the keaders in the Dutch Underground, hiding Jewish people in their home in a specially built room and aiding their escape from the Nazis. For their help, all but Corrie found death in a concentration camp. HS

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