Mariama traveled by car, train, boat and plane from her home in Western Africa to a new world in a grey city. She has to learn a new language, a new way to eat and even a new way to play with friends. But even with all the differences, Mariama learns that children everywhere are still children. She made new friends who taught her how to live in her new home while she taught them (and the readers) about Africa, too.
This could be a story of a TCK or an immigrant child, but the themes overlap and the focus is on moving and cultural adaptation.
Available in Spanish here.
Reading level: age 3-6 years
Gregory’s dad comes home from work one day and announces that they’re all moving to Japan! Even before leaving their home, the family begins to learn Japanese and how to eat with chopsticks. Everything is different for Gregory in his new home and new school but he tries his best to learn all about the way things are done in Japan. Even without speaking the same language as his classmates, he finds ways to make friends and tries to fit in and is surprised to find out in the end that his classmates are adapting to him too.
Reading level: age 4 to 8 years
In this last book of the Anika Scott series, Anika’s term at boarding school begins badly, when her classmate Sabrina announces to everyone that Anika has “an illegitimate brother who drinks.” Despite Anika’s fears, the other girls do not hold this against her, but this only makes Sabrina’s grudge against her grow. Anika feels convicted about her own anger with Sabrina, but she does not know how to stop the feud. Only after seeking Sabrina out to apologize one night does Anika discover how lonely and unloved her classmate feels. This book shows rather clearly the difference between two boarding school students – one who feels confident of her parents unfailing love, and the other who is convinced that her parents have sent her away because she interferes in their work.
Reading level: age 10-14 years
This is a fictional story about a British MK attending elementary school at Chefoo School in Malaysia in the late 1960s and early 1970s. It’s written as reflections of her school experiences and adventures in Malaysia since she is about to start a new boarding school in England.
Reading level: age 9-12
Douglas Fairchild, American ambassador’s son, starts 6th grade at a new school in Washington D.C. after being kicked out of private school. He just thinks the teachers there didn’t understand him because he is from “Pefkakia” (the country in which he was born). After telling the bus driver how to drive and refusing to do his homework, Doug ends up in an after-school counseling group for the school misfits, better known as “The Twinkie Squad”. In his own eccentric way, Doug brings the group together and gains them respect from the schoolmates who used to taunt them, but only after repeated disasters and mishaps as his plans go awry. Interesting to TCKs will be the way Doug clings to the fact that he was born in Pefkakia and uses it to explain why he is different than everyone else, though he never spent actual time there. This alienates him from his peers but also helps him explain away their rejection by saying it is because they “misunderstand him.”
Reading level: age 9-12 years
Eleven year old Nick and his family move to England for two years because of his father’s business. Nick finds everything unfamiliar and wants to return home to Ohio, but he makes an agreement with his father to give it four months. While his older brother attends an International school, Nick and his younger brother attend typical British schools. There Nick struggles with all the new things he encounters, but he also makes friends, gets involved in new activities, and gets a new pet to keep in his closet.
Reading level: age 8-13 years
