What Is a Refugee?

PreS-Gr 2–Beginning with age-appropriate descriptions of the reasons refugees must leave home, including war and persecution, this narrative explores the difficulties of leaving loved ones and finding a new home. The book shows that being a refugee involves hardship and sometimes rejection from other countries or waiting in camps before hopefully finding a new life in a safe place. Digitally rendered illustrations depict refugees of various ages, races, and physical characteristics. The situations they face are shown in representative ways: neither the text nor illustrations identify any specific refugee groups or resettling countries. The end matter features quotes from modern-day refugee children and short biographies of famous refugees. Gravel introduces a globally important concept in a comprehensible way for young readers. A minor weakness is that many of the scenarios are presented in a past-tense narrative which can render the text a bit distant. The refugee experience would be more powerfully voiced in the present tense. Still, this book is an effective and compassionate introduction to this topic.