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Diverse Children's Literature: Immigration & Refugees

Topic information

Be careful not to box yourself into a concrete search term for your topic. Think of synonyms for your subject - broader terms, related terms, and narrower terms. Using this strategy will guarantee a wider selection of materials. Be aware, too, that some search terms may be uncomfortable to think or say out loud - but could yield possible results.

Possible search termsImmigrant, human migration, refugee, undocumented person, illegal alien, émigrée, displaced person

Picture Books and Early Readers

The Day War Came
A Different Pond
Dreamers
Four Feet, Two Sandals
Islandborn
The Journey
Lubna and Pebble
Marwan's Journey
Mexique
Mustafa
The Paper Boat
Room on Our Rock
Story Boat
Two White Rabbits
Vanishing Colors

Middle Grade

The Arrival
Brother's Keeper
Children of War
Efrén Divided
Everything Sad Is Untrue
I Lived on Butterfly Hill
Inside Out and Back Again
The Land of the Cranes
A Long Walk to Water
The Night Diary
90 Miles to Havana
The Red Pencil
Santiago's Road Home
Village of Scoundrels
When Stars Are Scattered

Young Adult

Almost American Girl
Call Me American
The Distance Between Us
Dream Country
The Far Away Brothers
A Grain of Rice
A Hope More Powerful Than the Sea
Let's Go Swimming on Doomsday
The Other Side
Salt to the Sea
Sanctuary
Sea Prayer
We Are Displaced
We Are Here to Stay: Voices of Undocumented Young Adults
We Are Not from Here