Strangers & Sojourners: A Redeemed Reader Booklist about the Refugee and Immigrant Experience

We’ve reviewed many books about refugees and the immigrant experience over the years at Redeemed Reader. In 2018 and 2019, our summer reading challenges supported a program working with refugees in Nashville. While immigration was, and is, a hot-button issue, these books remind young readers of the people impacted.

Strangers & Sojourners: The Refugee & Immigrant Experience

PICTURE BOOKS:

A Different Pond by Bao Phi (about a young Vietnamese boy and his father in America)

Her Right Foot by Dave Eggers (about the Statue of Liberty, including its significance welcoming newcomers to America)

I’m an Immigrant, too! by Mem Fox (celebrating different cultures, set in Australia but applicable)

The Suitcase by Chris Naylor-Ballestreros (about animals with a simple, powerful message on welcoming the stranger)

Home is in Between by *Mitali Perkins (a gentle, thoughtful story about the immigrant experience)

Watercress by Andrew Yang (contrasts life in China to a new life in Ohio)

Yang Warriors by Kao Kalia Yang (about a mostly Hmong refugee camp in the 80s, based on the author’s personal experience)

*Varenka by Bernadette Watts (a lovely story about a widow whose fears and struggles with faith are mingled with loving her neighbor and trusting the God who does not disappoint.)

MIDDLE GRADE

Family Style by Thien Pham (cartoonist Thien Pham recalls his escape from Vietnam and growing up in America through a series of meals in this graphic novel)

*Hope in the Valley by Mitali Perkins (captures one girl’s momentous summer as she processes grief, grapples with change, and finds her own voice along the way)

It Ain’t So Awful, Falafel by Firoozah Dumas (An Iranian girl in a California middle school struggles to bridge cultures in this compelling, semi-autobiographical narrative.)

Kareem Between by Shifa Saltagi Safadi (a sympathetic portrait of a 7^th-grader born to Syrian refugees, who can’t feel himself fully American or fully Syrian.)

*Mishka by Edward van de Vendel ( gentle, heartwarming story of refugees and rabbits finding home, ages 6-9 as a read-aloud, 7-12 for independent readers.)

My Name Is Tani by Tanitoluwa Adewumi (the true story of a boy who finds a place and passion in America, ages 10-12)

Illegal by Eoin Colfer and Andrew Donkin (a graphic novel, puts readers into the perils of a refugee from Africa while stimulating important questions about refugees worldwide. Ages 12 and up)

Refugee by Alan Gratz (combines the stories of three children from 1939 – present)

*When Stars Are Scattered by Victoria Jamieson and Omar Mohammed (graphic novel brings the refugee experience into sharp yet sympathetic focus)

Beast Rider by Tony Johnson (novel for 10-12 year olds about immigration from the perspective of a Mexican boy)

Inside Out and Back Again by Thanha Lai (a beautiful, timely, novel in verse about a young Vietnamese girl’s refugee experience. We also enjoyed its sequel, When Clouds Touch Us.)

Stormy Seas: Stories of Young Boat Refugees by Marybeth Leatherdale and Eleanor Shakespeare (nonfiction, profiling 4 young people)

Nowhere Boy by Katherine Marsh (lovely fictional story involving two boys and the Syrian refugee crisis in Europe)

*A Long Walk to Water: Based on a True Story by Linda Sue Park (If you are looking for a good story to jumpstart discussions about our relative wealth and comfort, the ongoing global refugee crises, or simply the hardships many children around the world face, this is a good option.)

Other Words for Home by Jasmine Warga (a displaced Muslim girl adjusts to America as her second home in this novel-in-verse)

YOUNG ADULT

*Everything Sad is Untrue by Daniel Nayeri (beautiful literary memoir about the refugee/American immigrant experience)

Taking Flight: From War Orphan to Star Ballerina by Michaela dePrince. (A Sierra Leone orphan, war turned her into a refugee, and she was eventually adopted by an American family who helped her pursue her dreams of ballet)

*You Bring the Distant Near by Mitali Perkins (In this appealing multicultural novel, three generations of a Bengali family find life and love in America.)

ADULT

After the Last Border: Two Families and the Story of Refuge in America by Jessica Goudeau (narrative nonfiction, excellent for mature teens and adults)