Riot Headline The Best Books of 2024
The Kids Are All Right

5 Immigrant & Refugee Stories For Kids

This content contains affiliate links. When you buy through these links, we may earn an affiliate commission.

Margaret Kingsbury

Contributing Editor

Margaret Kingsbury grew up in a house so crammed with books she couldn’t open a closet door without a book stack tumbling, and she’s brought that same decorative energy to her adult life. Margaret has an MA in English with a concentration in writing and has worked as a bookseller and adjunct English professor. She’s currently a freelance writer and editor, and in addition to Book Riot, her pieces have appeared in School Library Journal, BuzzFeed News, The Lily, Parents, StarTrek.com, and more. She particularly loves children’s books, fantasy, science fiction, horror, graphic novels, and any books with disabled characters. You can read more about her bookish and parenting shenanigans in Book Riot’s twice-weekly The Kids Are All Right newsletter. You can also follow her kidlit bookstagram account @BabyLibrarians, or on Twitter @AReaderlyMom.

Even though the United States is a nation made up primarily of immigrants, it is often unwelcoming to immigrants and refugees who come here to find a new home. These five children’s books about immigrants and refugees tell their stories, from language struggles to experiencing racism to celebrating family stories. Each one is a beautiful exploration of what it’s like to be an immigrant and refugee.

Children’s Books About Immigrants and Refugees

Cover of Not Far From Here by Nydia Armendia-Sánchez & Devon Holzwarth

Not Far From Here by Nydia Armendia-Sánchez & Devon Holzwarth

In this beautiful picture book, two children ask Mamá to tell them a story, and she tells them about their Papá, who moved from a place not far from here where he lived in a casa with their abuelitos and spoke a different language. Learning English was hard, and being away from family was hard, and some mocked him, but some people also welcomed him, and he found a home, eventually meeting Mamá. The text is lyrical and infused with Spanish words. The illustrations are warm and cozy. A glossary of the Spanish phrases used in the book is included.

Cover of A Rock in My Throat by Kao Kalia Yang & Jiemei Lin

The Rock in My Throat by Kao Kalia Yang & Jiemei Lin

This moving picture book autobiography is told from the perspective of young Hmong refugee Kalia, who cannot force her voice to speak around what feels like a rock lodged in her throat. After watching a grocery store clerk ridicule her mother for being unable to find the right English word, Kalia decides to no longer speak English. She’s very lonely at school, yet even when other children ask to play, she finds herself unable to join in. In an author’s note, Yang describes why this book was important to her to write.

Cover of I, Too, Am Here by Morgan Christie & Marley Berot

I, Too, Am Here by Morgan Christie & Marley Berot

The child narrator in this picture book is proud of her immigrant heritage, and the stories her family tells of their birth countries. But her family also tells her of the times they’ve been discriminated against and been on the receiving end of hate crimes just for being a different color and from a different country. “Go home,” people have told them. The child wonders, “How could someone tell her to go home when she already was?” It’s a powerful story about belonging and hope, with luminous illustrations. The author was inspired by the poem “I, Too” by Langston Hughes.

Cover of Ánh's New Word by Hanh Bui & Bao Luu

Ánh’s New Word by Hanh Bui & Bao Luu

Similar to The Rock in My Throat, this picture book explores language and the feeling of being caught between cultures as a child refugee, and is based on the author’s experiences. Ánh is a Vietnamese refugee living in a refugee camp in America. Ánh attends school with other refugees and is struggling to learn English in class. They decide not to speak in class, and notice that their grandmother is speaking less, too. But Ánh loves the school’s teacher and, with encouragement, says their first word. Bui gives more context in an author’s note.

Cover of On the Block: Stories of Home edited by Ellen Oh

On the Block: Stories of Home edited by Ellen Oh

This is a wonderful middle grade short story anthology telling the stories of multigenerational immigrant families who all live in the same apartment complex, Entrada Apartments. These slice-of-life stories describe tween experiences from a variety of backgrounds. Authors include Andrea Wang, Tracey Baptiste, Erin Entrada Kelly, and many more. There are twelve stories in the collection.

Here are some more lists of children’s books about the immigrant and refugee experience.