Based on the experiences of the author’s mother, this is the story of a Canadian MK who grew up in Taiwan in the early 1900s. The book follows her from her early childhood in Taiwan, to Canada where she grows up with her siblings and her mother’s relatives and afterwards her mother returns to Taiwan to rejoin her father in ministry. Her reentry experience is especially poignant, as she is given the responsibility to take care of her brother in a foreign world. But is there anyone to take care of her?
Reading level: age 10-14
In simple language, the author tells the true story of Rudyard Kipling, who spent his early childhood in India, and returned there after completing his education in England. Because his ayah and servant told him (in Hindi) about their views of the world and of religion, Kipling struggled when he was left in England with a family who allowed no questions about their way of doing things. This story focuses mostly on Kipling’s childhood and young adulthood.
Reading level: age 9-12 years
Written for young and not-as-young people who grew up overseas, this journal is a place to capture and reflect on the stories of an exceptional childhood. Divided into sections including My Places, My Family, My Schools, and My Home Country, the author describes her own memories and invites readers to follow suit. The journal includes targeted questions to get the creative juices flowing and allows ample space for personalized responses.
The author’s note on Amazon describes her vision for her book: “My aim in creating this journal for mobile young and not-so-young people has been to provide people raised as I was, in several countries, with an opportunity to gather together into one place the many aspects of themselves. I want to offer them a chance to assemble the places they have lived, the many odd life experiences they have had, and the personal tastes and perspectives they have developed and to see them united as a whole.
“At best, my hope is that the journal will help a person raised on the wing to put together his or her personal story, to record, in written form, perhaps in fragments, who he or she is. I envision the journal as a learning and self-exploration tool that validates both the particulars of each individual’s experience. It can be difficult, as I know first hand, for the country-hopping child to place or even assemble all the stray elements of an exciting but challenging lifestyle. My goal in preparing this journal has been to aid these people ‘of many lands’ in the long process of putting together the stories of their lives. Even if they never write a sentence in the book, they may, just by reading through the journal, glean a helpful memory or thought. A reader may regard the journal as an invitation: an invitation to set down the story of his or her own unique life.”
This book is sadly out-of-print and very expensive on Amazon right now, but a great find for those who can get their hands on it.
