Nam-Huong a Vietnamese refugee grieves the loss of her family and home. Unable to talk about her losses to the kids at school in Australia, she writes her real feelings in letters to her animal friends in Vietnam. Through a friendship with her kind teacher her grief finally finds expression, and her capacity for happiness again begins to unfold. This book is written in the yearning language of a child who has experienced great loss. Though Onion Tears is a refugee story rather than TCK, the grief of loss and moving is very relatable to TCKs and that’s why it is included on this site.
TCKs are notorious for hating the question “Where are you from?” Such a mobile childhood, surrounded by others moving all the time as well, can make it difficult to belong to one place or group of people. These TCKs were asked about their own experience of home and where they feel they belong.
How many homes have you lived in?
Where are you from?
Where do you consider home?
Where do you fit in best?
How has your sense of home changed over the years?
Though not a TCK book, this is a great story for helping kids cope with friends moving away. Third grade Amber’s best friend Justin Daniels is moving. They’ve always had each other to rely on (and Justin would never say something like “Amber Brown is a crayon”). As the reality of Justin’s move sets in, both struggle with their feelings. After they have a fight and stop talking to each other, they need to resolve their conflict and share their feelings to manage the separation. Reading level: age 7-10 years
Ira’s best friend Reggie is moving away. Ira feels hurt when Reggie idealizes the new location and loses interest in spending time with Ira, and this leads to a fight. The story also illustrates by negative example how not to tell a child about a move. On a more positive note, Ira and Reggie reconcile before the move, and Ira realizes that Reggie felt sad, too. The story also talks about maintaining the friendship through visits and phone calls, which is not realistic for most TCKs, but might start a discussion of other ways of keeping in touch.
His family is moving but Alexander has decided he’s not (and he means it!) going anywhere. He investigates other living arrangements while at the same time saying goodbye to people, places and things. His parents gently help him work through his feeling, until he finds himself packing. A humorous yet realistic look at a difficult situation.
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.
