3 Picture Books About Child Refugees [Review]

Posted 20 June 2018 in review /0 Comments

I don’t usually review picture books on my blog, but as I had to write a number of picture book reviews for a course, I’ve decided to share those reviews. These three books were originally noted in my bibliography, 15 Picture Books on the Refugee Experience.

Joseph’s Big Ride by Terry Farish and Ken Daley

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Joseph’s Big Ride tells a story about a child who is a refugee, but it is not a refugee story. Joseph wants nothing more than to ride a bicycle. Every day, he asks an older boy in the refugee camp if he can ride his bike, but the boy answers “Tomorrow, hey”. Joseph and his mother move to America before Joseph can try the bike. In their new apartment building, Joseph can see a bicycle outside. Joseph makes up his mind to try riding that bike and makes a new friend, who he calls Whoosh, in his quest to do so.

Joseph attempts to give Whoosh a drawing of a lion and a bandana in return for a ride on her bicycle. She doesn’t offer him a ride but does agree to be his friend. When he finally asks to ride her bike, she tells him it broke. Joseph’s bike repairing skills that he honed in the refugee camp allow him to fix Whoosh’s bicycle and have his turn at a ride. Young readers will likely relate to the feeling of wanting to try out something that belongs to a friend, or the experience of making friends in a new place. The story demonstrates that refugee children are first and foremost children. This book could be used in classrooms of younger students who may have (or will have) refugee classmates, to show that they are not so different from one another.

Although the book is illustrated by a Black Canadian, the book is not #ownvoices. The artwork, created with acrylic and markers, is bold and colourful, with thick lines and textures. The striking red of the bicycle highlights its role as an object of desire. The illustrations help convey the warm and friendly relationship that develops between Joseph and Whoosh, as well as the excitement in the experiences that Joseph has in his new home. The illustrations contribute to the book’s intended meaning by depicting Joseph as a child like any other, who could be excited to try out a friend’s bicycle.

Accompanying activities could include creating pictures in a similar illustration style, sharing stories about the first time one tried something new, or making a list of ways to include new students.

The Color of Home by Mary Hoffman and Karin Littlewood

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Hassan, a young refugee from Somalia, has just started school in England but he feels out of place in what seems to be a grey and drab world. When he paints a picture of his home back in Somalia and then overlays it with dark colours and flames, his teacher brings in a woman who can translate Hassan’s story for the teacher. Afterwards, Hassan wants to paint a new picture for his mother. Again, he draws his old home, but without people or violence, instead focusing on his cat. Hassan’s father hangs the painting on their wall at home. The story concludes with Hassan asking for a pet cat and beginning to notice colours around him.

The Colour of Home tells his Hassan’s story in his own voice, the voice of a child refugee. The story addresses why Hassan feels sad with reference to “the noise, the flames, the bullets, and the awful smell of burning and blood” and allusion to an uncle’s death. Hassan’s story offers hope in the form of children who befriend rather bully and an optimistic ending in which Hassan begins to realize that he can find things to love in his new home. This book exemplifies how a story could work well as both a window and a mirror. Non-refugee children could gain insight about what it might like to be a refugee fleeing a dangerous situation, while refugee children could see their own experience reflected in a book and understand that their stories deserve to be told and that they too might find a happy ending.

Painted illustrations mirror the content of the story, which focuses on a child’s paintings. The reader sees Hassan’s childlike paintings alongside more professional, artistic depictions. The paintings’ colours embody Hassan’s emotions and feelings about the concept of home. The illustrations extend the book’s meaning by offering a visual of the colours Hassan describes and showing the connection between Hassan’s idea of home and the colours around him.

Activities to accompany the text could include painting a picture of home or creating an animated version of the story (as inspired by the Year 3 students at Jessop Primary School).

Where Will I Live? by Rosemary McCarney

Where Will I Live cover  Add to Goodreads button

In this information picture book, McCarney (Canada’s Ambassador to the UN) explores questions that refugee children may ask when danger forces them to migrate. The text first appears to be told in third person (ex. “They ride…or walk…or run, hoping to find a peaceful place.”) but shifts to first person as the narrator asks, “But where will I live?” The narrator considers varied options and asks further questions about climate, friends, and sleeping arrangements. The book concludes with what the narrator hopes to find at the end of their journey – someone who smiles and says ‘welcome home’.

The short and simple narrative focuses on the uncertainties of what children experience when they are uprooted as refugees. The book does not touch on causes of conflict beyond what a child can comprehend – “Sometimes scary things happen to good people. When soldiers fight or danger comes, families must pack their things and search for a safe place to live”. This introduction contextualizes the child refugee’s experience by focusing on what it comes down to, without discussing political or cultural causes of conflict. While the experience is represented as uncertain and unpleasant, the text appropriately introduces the topic by not going too far into representing challenges like arrest or injury that refugees may face.

The photographs of real refugees were “generously provided by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees […] depict[s] their work around the world”. The images come from 13 countries in Europe and Africa and depict a variety of situations. These photographs contribute to message of the book by showing that the refugee experience is one that real children around the world experience. The variations between the photos also highlight that the refugee experience is not a monolith. Different children from different countries may have different experiences.

Despite their experiences, refugee children are foremost children and not so different from children who do not share their experiences. This book would work well to introduce young children to the concept of being a refugee. The book could be used as starting point to try to imagine what it would be like to be a refugee (ex. have children answer the questions posed in the book).

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