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?
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.
This excellent book for children has sections (5 chapters each) about preparing to move; moving; exploring the new culture; settling in; dealing with “the realities”; and moving on. In each chapter expat kids, ages 8-13, share their own experiences, then the author answers common questions & closes with a “Real Life Tip.” “The Kids’ Guide to Living Abroad” is relevant for elementary/primary students and above.
Kids and parents can read each chapter as it becomes relevant rather than all at once and sections can be skipped if they don’t apply. A lot of ground is covered!
Madeleine L’Engle, author of the Wrinkle in Time series, drew on her own childhood experiences of Swiss boarding school and a nomadic lifestyle to write this boarding school romance novel.
When Philippa (nicknamed Flip) is sent from Connecticut to Switzerland she struggles to adjust. Out of place and teased by the other girls, she must learn to overcome her self-pity and shyness. Flip finds a true friend in Paul, a war orphan with a past full of questions, and together they grow in confidence (on and off their skis), overcoming great losses in their pasts. The slow transformation Flip undergoes is wonderful to watch: from the awkward serious girl who sees school as imprisonment to a brave friend.
And Both Were Young doesn’t cover the normal TCK themes seen in other young adult fiction (cultural identity, reentry, etc.) but has a matter-of-fact approach to making friends and readjusting to life after the loss of loved ones. It’s the kind of book you can enjoy as a young girl (or boy) and reread throughout your whole life, going back to the Swiss Alps and châteaus with Flip and Paul again and again.
Don’t Despair on Thursdays! was not written for TCKS particularly but for late elementary kids to process all kinds of grief. It has pictures but it isn’t really a story, more of an informational book about grief. It has funny moments (like sumo wrestlers crying) alongside practical information and suggestions for dealing with loss. It covers how grief can take a long time to process, describes how it comes and goes in intensity, shows the physical symptoms of grief, and then provides tips on how to walk through the process.
This would be a good book to read with older children when a friend moves away or when they leave family or pets behind. Its advice at the end would be helpful for older kids or even adults, though the pictures might put off teenagers.
