The Journey


Francesca Sanna, Flying Eye Books, 48pp, 978-1-9092-6399-4, £12.99 hbk


A nameless country,


ravaged by a war which stretches like a grasping hand across the land; an escape threatened by borders and seas and menacing guards; a never ending journey which exists beyond the books’ pages. The author interviewed migrants and refugees from many different countries and then layered these narratives up into one single quest for freedom and peace. A picture book for older readers (7+) where the images on their own tell a powerful story with a strength of emotion which challenges the anonymizing and distorting language so often used by the media when representing refugees.


After Tomorrow


Gillian Cross, OUP, 304pp, 978-0-1927-5626-8, £6.99 pbk


‘The first raid happened on an ordinary, boring evening…’ The opening line in a thrilling slice of dystopia which imagines a Britain, just a short time in the future, where the banks have crashed, money is worthless, food is hard to come by and public disorder has set in… For Matt and his family, their best option is to flee and find safety in a refugee camp in France. A well-executed, frighteningly believable story


which very


cleverly gets young readers to imagine what it might be like to be refugee themselves. Winner of the Little Rebels Award for Radical Children’s Fiction 2014.


The Unforgotten Coat


Frank Cottrell Boyce, Walker Books, 112pp, 978-1-4063-4154-6, £7.99 pbk


The genesis of this book, explained in the Afterword, is as moving as the narrative itself. The novel tells the story of two refugees, brothers from Mongolia, making new lives in a school in Liverpool. The subject matter is weighty but the lively voice of Julie, the dialogue-rich text, the lined-exercise-book layout of the pages and the evocative Polaroid camera prints scattered throughout lend this book an engaging informality, clarity and energy. Sparkles with comedy one moment, drills spikes into your heart the next…Winner of the Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize 2012.


10 seemingly


The Day My Father Became a Bush


Joke van Leeuwen, trans. Bill Nagelkerke, Gecko Press, 104pp, 978-1-8775-7916-5, £6.99 pbk


From the title right through until the end statement –‘I’ll stay here until my father no longer needs to be a bush’- this narrative is a perfect example of how humour can be used in the most searing and devastating of ways. When civil war breaks out in her (unnamed) country, Toda has to flee to safety. Her flight is told through her sharp wit and an almost brutal clear- sightedness which, in turn, exposes the adult world of borders, checks and bureaucrats as arbitrary, sometimes cruel, often ridiculous, always baffling. A precise and thoughtful narrative, wrapped up in a philosophy which inspects our humanity with great scrutiny and


makes a nonsense of our world.


Alpha Bessora and Barroux, trans. Sarah Ardizzone, Barrington Stoke,216pp, 978-1-9113-7001-7, £12.99 pbk


Launching the exciting new Bucket List from Barrington Stoke,


publisher this


graphic novel details one man’s desperate journey from the Ivory Coast to France. A dense and detailed story for older readers (14+) which travels between countries and refugee camps, with


impossible


barriers to leap and people poised to exploit the vulnerable at every turn. And yet, at its core,


there is an almost painful solidarity as people who have nothing left try to support each other and give each other glimpses of sanctuary.


Fen Coles is Co-Director of Letterbox Library. Before joining in 2005, she worked in the charity sector, predominately in the field of LGBT and women’s rights. Letterbox Library is a 33-year-old not-for-profit children’s bookseller specialising in equality, diversity and inclusion.


You can order these books from the website which has a ‘Refugees & Migration’ theme section; they also provide Refugee Bookpacks for Key Stages 1 and 2. Letterbox Library runs the Little Rebels Award for Radical Children’s Fiction.


Books for Keeps No.221 November 2016 11


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