We see it every night on the news: the bloody aftermath of history being made. It disturbs us all; old and young wonder what more we can do. For our children’s sake, we hold on to whatever hope we can muster. Here are some recent books to share with older children about those who have lived through some of the worst the world has to offer, and have healed from their history and thrived.

On a memorable day in 1985, Kao Kalia Yang’s father dressed the 4-year-old in her best clothes, put her on his back and climbed to the top of the tallest tree in Ban Vinai refugee camp in Thailand. The little Hmong girl, born to Laotian parents, had never seen anything outside the camp, and from the treetop she could see mountains beyond mountains, a bigger world than she had ever imagined. Her father’s gift was hope that his daughter would travel far from that place of war and hunger to a new and beautiful life. From the Tops of the Trees is a true story of family love and survival.
From the Tops of the Trees by Kao Kalia Yang, illustrated by Rachel Wada (Carolrhoda, 2021) Ages 5 – 8. 

 

Wangari Maathai Planted Trees. Several previous children’s books have been written about the Kenyan activist and environmentalist who founded the Green Belt Movement and was the first African woman to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. This board book is a simplified version of a complex life, but a good introduction to the ways Maathai fought political oppression and dehumanizing poverty, empowering rural women by paying them to plant seedlings—ultimately helping to reforest a badly eroded Kenya with 50 million trees.
Wangari Maathai Planted Trees by Kate Coombs, illustrated by Seth Lucas (Little Naturalists Series, Gibbs Smith, 2021) Ages 4 – 8.

 

Peter Sis, who grew up in Czechoslovakia and was granted asylum in the United States in 1982, has often written about children suffering from oppression. “The Wall: Growing Up Behind the Iron Curtain” is based on his own life and dreams of freedom. Nicky and Vera is the story of Nicholas Winton, an Englishman who saved 669 children by transporting them from Prague to London during the Holocaust—a Schindler’s list of young Czechs, one of whom was young Vera Diamantova. Sis tells a story of a terrible time from the perspective of a gentle man who simply saw what he could do to help and did it. 
Nicky & Vera: A Quiet Hero of the Holocaust and the Children He Rescued by Peter Sis (W.W. Norton, 2021) Ages 6 – 10.

 

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The girl in A History of Me, the only person of color in her class, is the descendant of strong women—from a mother who had to move north to attend medical school, to a great-great-great-grandmother who was born a slave. Adrea Theodore says she wrote this book for her daughter, hoping that learning the rich legacy she has inherited, and the will of her ancestors to survive despite horrific circumstances, would inspire her to be proud of becoming the person she is meant to be.
A History of Me by Adrea Theodore, illustrated by Erin K. Robinson (Holiday House, 2022) Ages 5 – 8.

 

There are as many reasons to flee a country as there are refugees. In the Spirit of a Dream explores, in poetry, brief stories of 13 American immigrants who found opportunity in the United States after, in many cases, leaving another country where their dreams were endangered. Cuban drummer Candido Camero, U.S. Representative Ilhan Omar, astronaut Anousheh Ansari and cellist Yo Yo Ma are among the personalities depicted by a diverse team of illustrators. “We follow a dream that does not always come true. Sometimes it fades before us yet we persist and pursue it to awaken a future of our own.”
In the Spirit of a Dream: 13 Stories of American Immigrants of Color, developed by Alina Chau, written by Aida Salazar (Scholastic, 2021) Ages 6 – 10.

 

What the Kite Saw was inspired by the children of Palestine. Soldiers and tanks have occupied the town, and the father and brother of the young hero of the book have been taken away. As the rest of the family huddles at home, obeying the curfew, the boy imagines what he might see if he were able to fly above the town, and he fashions a star-shaped kite to do just that. Perhaps he, too, will someday be able to travel beyond the violence. This book is a gentle but haunting portrayal of a city at war, a story to read together.
What the Kite Saw by Anne Laurel Carter and Akin Duzakin (Groundwood Books, 2021) Ages 6 – 9.