How does Santa deliver Christmas gifts if your home doesn’t have a chimney? This sweet picture book about a girl named Deja who has worries that Santa won’t visit her in the city will capture readers hearts and answer questions about where Santa parks his sleigh and how he enters into apartments.

 

Junior (Grades 4-6)

Josef is a Jewish boy living in 1930s Nazi Germany. With the threat of concentration camps looming, he and his family board a ship bound for the other side of the world.

Isabel is a Cuban girl in 1994. With riots and unrest plaguing her country, she and her family set out on a raft, hoping to find safety in America.

Mahmoud is a Syrian boy in 2015. With his homeland torn apart by violence and destruction, he and his family begin a long trek toward Europe.

All three kids go on harrowing journeys in search of refuge, and all will face unimaginable dangers, from drownings to bombings to betrayals. But there is always the hope for tomorrow. Although Josef, Isabel, and Mahmoud are separated by continents and decades, shocking connections tie their stories together in the end.

Intermediate (Grades 7-8)


Jude never thought she'd be leaving her beloved older brother and father behind, all the way across the ocean in Syria. But when things in her hometown start becoming volatile, Jude and her mother are sent to live in Cincinnati with relatives. At first, everything in America seems too fast and too loud. The American movies that Jude has always loved haven't quite prepared her for starting school in the US―and her new label of "Middle Eastern," an identity she's never known before. But this life also brings unexpected surprises―there are new friends, a whole new family, and a school musical that Jude might just try out for. Maybe America, too, is a place where Jude can be seen as she really is. This life-affirming story is about losing and finding home and, most importantly, finding yourself.