Children's and YA Books about Refugees and Resettlement Camps

Children around the world seek refuge because of war, famine, persecution, and other horrors. Others are waiting in or forced to move to resettlement camps. Thanks to librarian Analine Johnson of Rodolfo Centeno Elementary School in Laredo, Texas and the child_lit listserv, here's a list of books illuminating their experiences, past and present, categorized by grade levels:

Lower Elementary
  • How Many Days To America? by Eve Bunting
  • So Far From The Sea by Eve Bunting
  • Rebekkah's Journey by Ann Burg
  • Dia's Story Cloth by Dia Cha
  • The Lotus Seed by Sherry Garland
  • The Roses In My Carpets by Rukhsana Khan
  • Chachaji's Cup by Uma Krishnaswami
  • The Place Where Sunflowers Grow by Amy Lee-Tai
  • Ziba Came On A Boat by Liz Lofthouse
  • Home and Away by John Marsden
  • Baseball Saved Us by Ken Mochizuki
  • Passage To Freedom: The Sugihara Story by Ken Mochizuki
  • The Silence Seeker by Ben Morley
  • Hamzat's Journey by Anthony Robinson
  • Angel Child, Dragon Child by Michele Maria Surat
  • The Bracelet by Yoshiko Uchida
  • Four Feet, Two Sandals by Karen Lynn Williams
  • Naming Liberty by Jane Yolen
Upper Elementary
  • When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit by Judith Kerr
  • Christophe's Story by Nikki Cornwell
  • Boy Overboard by Morris Gleitzman
  • Girl Underground by Morris Gleitzman
  • Lucky Baseball: My Story In A Japanese-American Internment Camp by Suzanne Lieurance
  • A Song for Cambodia by Michelle Lord
  • Lost For Words by Elizabeth Lutzeier
  • Half Spoon of Rice by Icy Smith
  • Brothers In Hope: The Story Of The Lost Boys Of Sudan by Mary Williams
Grades 5-9
  • All The Broken Pieces by Ann Burg
  • Give Me Shelter by Nikki Cornwell
  • The Breadwinner by Deborah Ellis
  • Mud City by Deborah Ellis
  • Parvana's Journey by Deborah Ellis
  • Zlata's Diary by Zlata Filipović
  • Warriors In The Crossfire by Nancy Bo Flood
  • The Red Umbrella by Christina Gonzalez
  • Aleutian Sparrow by Karen Hesse
  • The Clay Marble by Minfong Ho
  • A Million Shades of Gray by Cynthia Kadohata
  • Weedflower by Cynthia Kadohata
  • The Storyteller's Beads by Jane Kurtz
  • The Return by Sonia Levitin
  • Goodnight, Mr. Tom by Michelle Magorian
  • Escaping the Tiger by Laura Manivong
  • Good Night, Maman by Norma Fox Mazer
  • The Day of the Pelican by Katherine Paterson
  • Journey of Dreams by Marge Pellegrino
  • Bamboo People by Mitali Perkins
  • The Silver Sword by Ian Serraillier
  • Tangled Threads by Peggy Deitz Shea
  • Whispering Cloth by Peggy Deitz Shea
  • Anna is Still Here by Ida Vos
  • Hide and Seek by Ida Vos
  • The Kingdom by the Sea by Robert Westall
  • One Day We Had to Run by Sybella Wilkes
High School
  • Under the Domim Tree by Gila Almagor
  • Two Suns in the Sky by Miriam Bat-Ami
  • Children of the River by Linda Crew
  • Suitcase Sefton and the American Dream by Jay Feldman
  • Libertad by Alma Fullerton
  • No Pretty Pictures: A Child of War by Anita Lobel
  • Gringolandia by Lyn Miller-Lachmann
  • Finikin of the Rock by Marlina Marchetta
  • Guantanamo Boy by Anna Perera
  • A Pocket Full of Seeds by Marilyn Sachs
  • Abe in Arms by Pegi Deitz Shea
  • Outcasts United: A Refugee Team, An American Town by Warren St. John
  • Faraway Home by Marilyn Taylor
  • Briar Rose by Jane Yolen
  • Refugee Boy by Benjamin Zephaniah

Suggestions? Additions? Corrections? Kindly leave them in the comments and I'll make the changes.