06 February 2009

Selecting children's books on refugees

(revised)

I have been reading children's books that focus on refugees in order to select titles to contribute to my son's school library collection. My criteria included:

- different formats for different reading levels, i.e., picture books for younger/less advanced readers (grades K-2) and juvenile fiction/non-fiction for older/more advanced readers (grades 3-5)
- diverse refugee populations reflected
- different aspects of the refugee experience represented

A number of review sources are available that focus particularly on children's literature, including:
- Book Links
- Booklist
- Bulletin for the Center for Children's Books
- Horn Book
- School Library Journal

Reviews in these periodicals are searchable via a number of print indexes and databases. However, Amazon.com also includes reviews from these sources under individual book titles, in addition to customer reviews (see example).

Also useful was War & Peace: A Guide to Literature and New Media, Grades 4-8.

And here is the list of titles that I have compiled so far. (Note: I would have included Four Feet, Two Sandals; Gleam and Glow; and How I Learned Geography but my son's school library already carries these!)

Tagged Publications.


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