Picture books- Immigration
The Arrival
This extraordinary book is textless and depicts many strange things and a world that we do not understand and yet at the same time it is not difficult to understand. It shows the experience of an immigrant when he or she comes to a country where they know no one and understand very little. However on arriving in the new land, new friends are met and they show how things work and they also tell him the stories of how they too came to this new land. And so we get the very moving stories of a number of immigrant families. The illustrations are meticulously drawn in detailed panels of illustrations or sometimes full page illustrations in black and white or various shades of grey and sepia. It is a very evocative and moving book. It could be used with children from about 9 years up. It is especially helpful for discussion with any study concerning immigrants. (9 years to adult)
Austral Ed
My Place
This new edition published in 2008 has a timeline of important events up to 2008.
By moving backwards in decades from 1989, this sophisticated picture book shows how a particular neighbourhood in Sydney has changed from an urban street to the first white settlement and before to the time when the Aborigines lived there. The story is told through the eyes of the various children who lived there. An innovative book which inspires students to work on similar projects wherever they are in the world. (8 years up)
Austral Ed
Afghanistan
Boy Overboard
Gleitzman has succeeded in writing a comic/tragic account of a refugee family from Afghanistan. Jamal and Bibi are ordinary kids who love soccer and kids will relate to their plight as they are forced to flee Afghanistan, because their mother has been running a school for girls, which was of course forbidden. Their lives are often in great danger but amazingly enough it is often very funny. There is much that can be discussed.
Austral Ed
Girl Underground
is the sequel to Boy Overboard where Bibi and Jamal are now in a detention centre in Australia.
Austral Ed
Mahtab’s Story
The story of a young girl and whose family of mother, father, and younger brother and sister, are forced to flee Heart in Afghanistan during the time of the Taliban. They travel for many days by truck over rugged mountains into Pakistan where they wait while their father makes his way first to Australia. When they don’t hear, they finally decide to leave making their way to Indonesia and then across to Darwin in a perilous journey with any others in a small fishing boat. Their joy at arriving turns to grief when they are kept in a desolate detention camp in the centre of Australia. Finally they manage to contact heir father and are finally rejoined. This is an amazing story based on true stories of courage and determination. (11 – 15 years)
Austral Ed
Vietnam
The Little Refugee
illustrated by Bruce Whatley
This is the picture book version of a very popular adult book, The Happiest Refugee, about Anh Do and his family's escape from war-torn Vietnam in an overcrowded boat, and their very dangerous journey to Australia. They survived a terrifying storm, which ruined their meagre food and water supplies, and an attack by pirates, before being rescued by a German cargo ship. The book also describes his childhood in Australia, and his family’s efforts to fit in and make a new life for themselves. When he is made class captain his parents are so proud, and Anh finally feels accepted by his fellow students. The power of optimism and hope is strong. Bruce Whatley uses a mixture of illustration styles, with sepia and grey-toned realistic sketches reflecting the trauma of the war and the boat journey, contrasting with simpler, comic-style coloured drawings once the family reaches the safety of Australia. (5 – 10 years)
Austral Ed
Onion Tears
The moving story of a Vietnamese boat girl in Australia and how she is finally able to cry real tears, not just the tears that come when she is peeling onions. (7 - 14)
Austral Ed
Yerong Creek PS
Email: yerongck-p.school@det.nsw.edu.au
Location: Cole St, Yerong Creek, New South Wales, Australia
Phone: 02 69203521