Books to Resource Your Community in Today’s Current Events

If you are struggling to know how to talk to kids about ICE, you’re not alone. Some of the books below are ones that you don’t want to need, but your community needs them now. Others are stories of the immigrant and refugee experience, because humanizing people is important for helping all children to feel safe–at school, at the bus stop, at the grocery store, at home. And the last set are nonfiction resources to learn about immigration, refugees, and what you can do to help.

Kids and the News

From the experts in childhood mental health, these books are backed by the authority of our publisher partner the American Psychological Association. Each one offers practical tools to discuss difficult topics with kids. You don’t want to need these books, but they are here for when you do.

What to Do When the News Scares You, Revised Edition: A Kid’s Guide to Understanding Current Events

Grades 2-5

Children are often bombarded with unsettling information about the world around them. This book equips kids with coping tools and self-help exercises to put scary events into perspective.

Something Happened to My Dad: A Story about Immigration and Family Separation

Grades K-3

In this realistic and empowering tale, Carmen learns that through community and love, she can find strength in herself and maintain her connection with her Papi, who has been detained because of his immigration status. Also available in a Spanish edition, Algo le pasó a mi papá: Una historia sobre inmigración y la separación familiar.

New York Times Bestseller
Something Happened in Our Town: A Child’s Story about Racial Injustice

Grades K-3

Follow two families—one White, one Black—as they discuss a police shooting of a Black man in their community. The story aims to answer children’s questions about such traumatic events and to help children identify and counter racial injustice.

Something Happened in Our Park: Standing Together After Gun Violence

Grades K-3

When Miles’s cousin Keisha is injured in a shooting, he realizes people can work together to reduce the likelihood of violence in their community. Miles learns to use his imagination and creativity to help him cope with his fears.

Immigrant and Refugee Stories

Humanity should never be lost to politics. These books tell the stories of immigrants and refugee families, humanizing life stories no matter where they begin or how they unfold.

Just Say Welcome!

Grades PreK-3

“Just say ‘welcome!'” Tilly’s mom tells her when a newly arrived Iraqi family comes to stay with them for a while. “Sometimes that’s all it takes for strangers to become friends.” When the Iraqi family is ready to leave, they aren’t strangers anymore.

A Home on the Page

Grades K-4

After Noua, a young Hmong American girl, finds “Asians Go Home” spray-painted outside her house, she wonders where home truly is. Family members share how they find home, and Nou begins writing stories, creating a place where she belongs.

The Rock in My Throat

Grades K-4

In this moving true story, Kao Kalia Yang shares her experiences as a Hmong refugee child navigating life at home and school in America while carrying the weight of her selective mutism. Although the narrative is somber, it is also infused with moments of beauty, love, and hope. Also available in Spanish and Hmong.

Where We Come From

Grades K-4

In this unique collaboration, four authors lyrically explore where they each come from—literally and metaphorically. Richly layered illustrations connect past and present in this accessible and visually striking look at history, family, and identity.

Best Believe: The Tres Hermanas, a Sisterhood for the Common Good

Grades 1-4

Rhythmic verse presents three sisters who moved from Puerto Rico to New York City as children and grew up to be pioneering activists in their Bronx community, focusing on schools, libraries, and the arts. Also available in Spanish: Cree: Las Tres Hermanas, una hermandad para el bien común.

Finding Refuge: Real-Life Immigration Stories from Young People

Grades 6-12

English teacher Victorya Rouse has assembled a collection of true stories told by teens who know firsthand what it means to leave a beloved but unsafe homeland for a distant place where everyone speaks another language.

Just Another Story: A Graphic Migration Account

Grades 9-12

When Carlos was nineteen, his mother decided to leave her life in El Salvador. Refusing to let her go without him, Carlos joined her journey north. Together they experienced the risks countless people face as they migrate. Also available in Spanish: Una historia más: Un relato gráfico de migración.

Nonfiction Resources

Information is empowering. Resource your students with these books about immigration, refugees, deportation, and more.

Immigration, Refugees, and the Fight for a Better Life

Grades 4-8

Learn about immigration and refugee resettlement within the United States and throughout the world. Follow both historical and recent large migrations, understand the challenges of life in a new country, and see how activists fight for immigrants’ and refugees’ rights. Also available in Spanish.

How to Help Refugees

Grades 6-10

The refugee crisis is one of the most pressing of twenty-first century global issues—and how we help refugees is one of the most-debated topics of our time. This book explores that issue and puts forward solutions for how we can better manage the crisis of displaced people.

Crossing Borders: Navigating Immigration in North America

Grades 6-12

Immigration is one of the most debated topics around. Discover the history of immigration to North America and dive into who immigrates and why, how it impacts the communities they join, and what kinds of legislation and social attitudes affect it.

Walls and Welcome Mats: Immigration and the American Dream

Grades 8-12

Examine the United States’ history of immigration, as well as the backlash that so many immigrants have faced, while also understanding the optimism that leads people to seek a better future in a new land.