Ten-year old Samantha is about to start her fifth school. After living in Nepal for several years, she and her family have returned “home” to Australia, but Sam has had a hard time fitting in.
Assigned to sit at a table with the “mean girls”, Sam feels excluded. When she is teased for ineptly explaining her parents’ jobs, she defends herself with a wild story about her mom, but that only makes things worse. As she gets in deeper trying to defend the lie the mocking gets meaner and Sam becomes more and more miserable until things finally reach a breaking point.
Though the story is about a young TCK the major theme of the book is how to recognize and handle subtle and overt bullying.
Ages 8-12
Available on Kindle here
Rudyard Kipling is a controversial figure in today’s TCK world – a TCK from colonial times who wrote things that reflected the British mindset of the time, as well as things that were, for that era, remarkably counter-cultural and Progressive. For their historical value, we include from one short story collection, these three stories in which the protagonists are young British children raised in India.
Baa, Baa, Black Sheep – Two young children (ages 5 and 3 years), are brought back from India to England to stay for 5 years until their beloved parents can return to them. The heart-wrenching description of the bereft children’s misery when they realize their parents are gone hints that this story is probably based on Kipling’s own experience being left with a strict caretaker in England who had no understanding of his former life in India.
Wee Willie Winkie – Willie, the precocious, little son of a Colonel in British India stands up to some ruffians intent on harming the young fiancée of an officer who Willie idolizes, after she strays into their territory. The Shirley Temple movie of this name was adapted from this story.
His Majesty the King – A little English boy in India has the affection of his nanny and his playmate’s kind mother, but longs for his own, preoccupied parents to pay attention to him.
Kathy is in her first year at boarding school in northern China when Japanese soldiers arrive to take the children and teachers to a prisoner of war camp, where they were to remain for several years. Kathy and her older brother face hardships, disease and discouragement, but their teachers remind them that “The soldiers cannot take God out of this camp” and encourage them to find joy in small things. During her imprisonment, Kathy befriends a Japanese guard, and they celebrate together when the war ends. Although it is not expressly stated, the girl in the story is almost certainly an MK. Her experience as a prisoner of war, of course, is not especially typical, and her friendship with the guard is not given much attention. The focus of the book is on Kathy’s courage in the midst of frightening circumstances. Questions at the end of the book can initiate discussions with elementary aged children about dealing with fear, how to live peaceably with others, and why countries have wars.
Reading level: age 8-11 years
When Toohy, a fence lizard loses his home and friends in a fire, he is taken in by Wood, a poetry- writing turtle. Wood helps him deal with the disorientation of living in a new place and the grief of losing his friends, especially his best friend Pearl the grey dove. This rather long, chapter book is more appropriate for older elementary children and could be helpful in processes losses.
