I’ve been rather quiet for a while now. My reading has been up and down, lots more time spent playing on my phone. However, a few books have been read and over the past few weeks I have been focussed on reading children’s books about the holocaust and the subsequent genocides the world has experienced. A colleague and I decided we would like to review books on this topic in a video to be posted by our library service. As it turns out, due to workloads and unexpected illness, we’ve had to postpone this but luckily I can still share the books on my blog so others can discover them. Most of these books are about the holocaust; there are fewer titles available that cover the events in places such as Cambodia, Darfur, Sudan and Rwanda.
Picture Books
It may seem strange to include picture books in my selection but when it comes to refugees, there are more than a few excellent books around that broach the topic and allow you to introduce the theme to your youngsters. It is always a good idea to have a read of them yourself before sharing them with your child so you can anticipate any questions they may have, and so you can screen the book to make sure if is appropriate for your child.
Chapter Books
Of these, I read Number the Stars by Lois Lowry as a child but the rest have been published more recently. Writing this makes me realise how different they are, set in different countries, showing the experiences of very different people. Three of them are graphic novels, proving that a picture really can be worth a thousand words.
Non-fiction
A small selection of books including The Missing by Michael Rosen, detailing his search for the members of his family that disappeared during WWII.
She Eats Books 