Books for Your Doll

As the number of refugees to the West increases, topics related to refugee resettlement are becoming more important in the classroom. I plan to use my doll in conjunction with the many children's books recently published about refugees and refugee resettlement communities.

I plan to use my doll in conjunction with the book I'm New Here by Anne Sibley O'Brien, which is about the acculturation of three refugee students in a supportive school community. With this book, I plan to teach the concepts of "being new," "being different," and "how-to-be-welcoming."

Anne Sibley O'Brien is one of the founders of I'm Your Neighbor [www.imyourneighborbooks.org], a project that promotes the use of children's literature featuring "new arrival" cultures and groups. It features a recommended list of books by setting (country) , by groups represented, by theme, and by age.

Most libraries let you browse their catalogue on-line. My local library has a website with a search tool that allows me to search for children's books entering "refugee" as a search term.