Books

My Two Blankets tells the story of a refugee from Africa and how she makes a new friend by sharing her language, one word at a time. This story about the refugee resettlement experience also has themes about friendship and dealing with change.

It is a stirring and timely book that strips the political baggage from the words “migrant” and “refugee,” telling the deeply personal stories of displacement and disruption that were lived by Yousafzai and nine other girls.

Lai’s bestselling Newbery Honor book, written in short free verse, powerfully captures the alienation felt by a child forced into a new and often unwelcoming world. As 10-year-old Ha tries to adjust to life in Alabama, where she is bullied by her peers and befriended by a teacher who has some understanding of her experiences back in Vietnam, readers can empathize with Ha and all of those who are considered “foreigners” in this story of strength and resilience.

Brothers in Hope is the story, told in first person, of eight-year-old Garag, who escapes Sudan by walking through Ethiopia and Kenya, eventually getting to the US. This book deals with a tough subject in a delicate but honest way.