Picture Books About Immigration & Refugees
Every month, Montessori For All selects an anti-bias, anti-racist book for our teachers to read to their communities. First we select one for 3-6 year-olds, then one for 1st-3rd graders, and finally one for 4th-6th graders. If you would like to subscribe to our monthly newsletter to receive links to book guides with discussion questions, vocabulary words, and extension activities to be used in the classroom or at home, you can sign up here. This month we are focusing on picture books about immigration & refugees. Further, you can find books about peace/justice/empathy here or diverse cultures here.
Picture Books about Immigration and Refugees: 3-6 year-olds
In this moving and timely story, a young child describes what it is like to be a migrant as she and her father travel north toward the U.S. border.
They travel mostly on the roof of a train known as The Beast, but the little girl doesn’t know where they are going. She counts the animals by the road, the clouds in the sky, the stars. Sometimes she sees soldiers. She sleeps, dreaming that she is always on the move, although sometimes they are forced to stop and her father has to earn more money before they can continue their journey.
As many thousands of people, especially children, in Mexico and Central America continue to make the arduous journey to the U.S. border in search of a better life, this is an important book that shows a young migrant’s perspective.
6-9 year-olds
Stepping Stones: A Refugee Family’s Journey
This unique picture book was inspired by the stone artwork of Syrian artist Nizar Ali Badr, discovered by chance by Canadian children’s writer Margriet Ruurs. The author was immediately impressed by the strong narrative quality of Mr. Badr’s work, and, using many of Mr. Badr’s already-created pieces, she set out to create a story about the Syrian refugee crisis. Stepping Stones tells the story of Rama and her family, who are forced to flee their once-peaceful village to escape the ravages of the civil war raging ever closer to their home. With only what they can carry on their backs, Rama and her mother, father, grandfather and brother, Sami, set out to walk to freedom in Europe. Nizar Ali Badr’s stunning stone images illustrate the story.
9-12 year-olds
Farah feels alone, even when surrounded by her classmates. She listens and nods but doesn’t speak. It’s hard being the new kid in school, especially when you’re from another country and don’t know the language. Then, on a field trip to an apple orchard, Farah discovers there are lots of things that sound the same as they did at home, from dogs crunching their food to the ripple of friendly laughter. As she helps the class make apple cider, Farah connects with the other students and begins to feel that she belongs.
Ted Lewin’s gorgeous sun-drenched paintings and Eve Bunting’s sensitive text immediately put the reader into another child’s shoes in this timely story of a young Muslim immigrant.
Note: This books has a problematic portrayal of assimilation, but we use it as an opportunity to talk explicitly about how problematic it is and to help build critical consciousness in our children.