Refugee Rights Day for Children

Refugee Rights Day is recognized across Canada on April 4.

Updated April 4, 2025
Drag items up and down to your preferred order then select the "Save Order" button.
Across so many seas
Behar, Ruth
Paper Book
NEWBERY HONOR WINNER "As lyrical as it is epic, Across So Many Seas reminds us that while the past may be another country, it's also a living, breathing song of sadness and joy that helps define who we are." --Alan Gratz, New York Times bestselling author of Refugee<...
Alone : the journeys of three young refugees
Tom, Paul
Paper Book
Finalist, Governor General's Literary Award, Translation Each year, more than 400 minors arrive alone in Canada requesting refugee status. They arrive without their parents, accompanied by no adult at all. Alone relates the journey of three of them: Afshin, Alain and Patricia. Their...
The Endless Sea
Thai, Chi/ Dao, Linh (ILT)
Paper Book
This deeply personal story of a perilous crossing, movingly illustrated for a picture book audience, mirrors the plight of families around the world who endure global displacement. This is the lyrical true tale of the author's refugee journey with her family from Vietnam to the...
Finding home : words from kids seeking sanctuary
Agna, Gwen
Paper Book
In this photographic picture book, the authors record and transcribe the words of displaced children, raising up their voices--who they are, where they came from, and the many different reasons that they had to leave their home countries. My parents told me we had to leave to...
Finding Papa
Krans, Angela Pham
Paper Book
Finding Papa has been named the 2024 Asian/Pacific American Award Picture Honor Book by the Asian Pacific American Librarians Association! This poignant and lyrical debut picture book based on the author's own experience and illustrated by Caldecott Honoree Thi Bui follows...
The freezies
Dhondy, Farrukh
Paper Book
Suleikha, Leo and Kai, a group of 12-year-olds known as the Freezies, befriend the intriguing and larger-than-life Mr Christaki, a traveller who camps with his converted school bus on their village green. When revealed as a refugee from Syria, he disappears with his four-year-old adopted daughter....
Homeland : my father dreams of Palestine
Moushabeck, Hannah
Paper Book
A father and his daughters may not be able to return home . . . but they can celebrate stories of their homeland! As bedtime approaches, three young girls eagerly await the return of their father who tells them stories of a faraway homeland--Palestine....
The house before falling into the sea
Wang, Ann Suk
Paper Book
Kirkus Best Books of the Year Jane Addams Children's Book Award Finalist 2024 Freeman Book Awards Horn Book Fanfare ***Three starred reviews*** A child and her family take in refugees during the Korean War in this poignant picture book about courage and what...
A house without walls
Laird, Elizabeth
Paper Book
The moving story of a family's fight to reunite after their lives are torn apart by war in Syria, from award-winning middle grade author Elizabeth Laird. Thirteen-year-old Safiya and her family have been driven out of Syria by civil war. Safiya knows how lucky she is - lucky not...
Kicked out
Dassu, A. M.
Paper Book
In this stand-alone companion novel to the acclaimed Boy, Everywhere, A. M. Dassu returns to extend the story of Sami's best friend Ali, who organizes a charity soccer match for their friend Aadam while his whole life is privately unraveling. After their friend Mark's mum...
The light of home
Farid, Diana
Paper Book
  A universal story about displacement, migration, and the many ways we find home. Nur has always loved her home by the sea, where water glimmers along a straight horizon. But when Nur and her family are forced to leave, they begin a long journey to an unfamiliar place. ...
Lion of the sky
Hemnani, Ritu
Paper Book
An evocative historical novel in verse about a boy and his family who are forced to flee their home and become refugees after the British Partition of India. Perfect for fans of Other Words for Home.  Twelve-year-old Raj is happiest flying kites with his best friend,...
Mishka
Vendel, Edward van de
Paper Book
Best of the Year: Publishers Weekly - NYPL - Booklist Winner of the national book award for children's literature in the Netherlands -- a sweet and tender story of a girl refugee finding a new home! Roya, her three brothers, and their...
The other side of tomorrow
Cho, Tina
Paper Book
Booklist Editor's Choice of 2024: Books for Youth School Library Journal Best Book of 2024 Kirkus Reviews Best Books of 2024 A Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection Perfect for fans of Illegal and When Stars Are Scattered, this poignant and moving...
Quiet night, my astronaut : the first days (and nights) of the war in Ukraine
Lushchevska, Oksana
Paper Book
This gorgeous, expressive picture book shows the first haunting days and nights of the war in Ukraine from a child's perspective. The child is scared, but will not be afraid. She believes in a higher power watching over them, keeping them safe--her astronaut. As she narrates, readers get a tender...
The rock in my throat
Yang, Kao Kalia
Paper Book
Praise for The Rock in My Throat by Kao Kalia Yang, illustrated by Jiemei Lin: Asian/Pacific American Awards for Literature Picture Book Honor Booklist Editor's Choice The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books Blue Ribbon Award Heartland...
A star shines through
Desnitskaya, Anna
Paper Book
Kirkus Reviews Best Picture Books About Families List (2024) "Straightforward, heartfelt words and thin-lined, fully imagined drawings from Desnitskaya (On the Edge of the World) give tender voice to one child's refugee experience." -- ...
Veena and the red roti : a story of hope during partition
Moolani Mehra, Namita
Paper Book
Veena loves her home, especially spending time in the kitchen learning how to make roti. But everything changes when India suddenly becomes free from British rule, and the country is to be divided in two according to religion. Fearing for their safety, Veena's family flees in the middle of the night...
Wings to soar
Athaide, Tina
Paper Book
A historically relevant middle-grade novel-in-verse about a girl's resiliency when faced with hatred towards refugees. Readers of The Night Diary and Inside Out and Back Again shouldn't miss out. It's 1972 and Viva's Indian family has been expelled from Uganda and...
Zia's story
Qayumi, Shahnaz
Paper Book
'You are a man now, take care of your mother,' Zia's father whispered to Zia just as he is arrested - never to return home. Soon after that, in 1989, the Russians pull out of Afghnaistan, and the country falls into civil war. After the Taliban took over, women were not allowed to work, nor could...
Ánh's new word : a story about learning a new language
Bui, Hanh
Paper Book
A child living in a Vietnamese refugee camp learns their first word in English with a little help from their teacher and grandmother in this heart-warming picture book based on the author's childhood. Many things are different for Ánh now that they've left Vietnam with their...

Library staff! You can create and contribute to lists. Contact your catalog administrator or log in here.