refugees

4 Diverse New Picture Books That Invite You Home

| Tasha
Book cover for The Blue House I Loved by Kao Kalia Yang, illustrated by Jen Shin. A young Hmong girl in a blue dress and sandals walks in front of a blue house with lit windows. Other children play in the background.

The Blue House I Loved by Kao Kalia Yang, illustrated by Jen Shin

  • Publisher: University of Minnesota Press
  • Publication Date: February 10, 2026
  • Reviewed from ARC provided by publisher
  • ISBN: 9781517907976

In St. Paul, Minnesota, there was a blue house that was loved. The two-story house was a duplex where the first floor was rented to Hmong refugees. The house was rented by the narrator’s aunt and uncle and was not big enough for their family. Two cousins had to sleep on the unheated porch where their wet hair froze in the winter. The bedrooms were filled with others, sleeping three and four to a room. The narrator’s favorite place was the back porch where her aunt breastfed the baby and the cousins played and fought. It was the place they learned about their new country while also keeping Hmong traditions close. It was a special house filled with memories.

As always, Yang’s writing is a gorgeous combination of frankness and found beauty. Her ability to paint a vivid picture of the house using small details bring the entire book to life. It’s those small moments that make a life, a house and a family and the book shows that so touchingly. Yang also speaks to the importance of a home for a refugee family newly in America and what it meant to have the space however crowded and cramped. Shin’s art is a lovely mix of architecture and people, showing both the house and the family with clarity and joy.

A journey into refugee memory. Appropriate for ages 4-8.

The book cover for Here Come the Aunties! By Cynthia Leitich Smith, illustrated by Aphelandra. A young Muscogee child stands with his hands up and a big smile in front of a group of diverse women of all ages who are smiling over his shoulder.

Here Come the Aunties! By Cynthia Leitich Smith, illustrated by Aphelandra

  • Publisher: Heartdrum
  • Publication Date: February 10, 2026
  • Reviewed from Edelweiss e-galley
  • ISBN: 9780063374690

River is Muscogee and lives on a reservation in Oklahoma. He has many aunties who appear throughout the year. Using repeating language to introduce each auntie, the book celebrates the skills and efforts of each of them. Auntie Abby helps with planting the garden. Auntie Meg takes River fishing for catfish. Auntie Dana brings pumpkins in the fall. Auntie Patrice teaches beading. Other aunties share Muscogee history and traditions or teach in school. As River welcomes his new little sister, he knows first that the aunties are coming!

Smith captures the beauty of community in this picture book about living on a reservation where not only Native people live but others of different backgrounds, all of whom can be aunties. In her Author Note, she explains that aunties can be relatives but don’t have to be. Aphelandra’s illustrations are done in ink, gouache and PhotoShop. They are a delightful mix of deep rich paint, cleverly drawn faces and incredible warmth. 

A joyous look at Muscogee community. Appropriate for ages 3-6.

Book cover for Main Street: A Community Story about Redlining by Britt Hawthorne and Tiffany Jewell, illustrated by David Wilkerson. A young Black girl rides her bicycle down a city street with people in the background walking.

Main Street: A Community Story about Redlining by Britt Hawthorne and Tiffany Jewell, illustrated by David Wilkerson

  • Publisher: Kokila
  • Publication Date: January 27, 2026
  • Reviewed from Edelweiss e-galley
  • ISBN: 9798217002672

Olivia tries to invite her friends to her neighborhood block party, but one girl explains that her mother doesn’t think Main Street is safe. Olivia tells her mother about what happened and then watches as the neighborhood they are driving through changes from large homes to the tighter urban Main Street neighborhood. When she explains to a neighbor that she doesn’t want to live there any more, Ms. Effie tells her that the first time she heard that Main Street wasn’t a good neighborhood was when the bank refused their mortgage. The Black neighborhood banded together, people got second jobs, and everyone learned how to save. Ms. Effie shared a map of the city with red lines around the “rough” neighborhoods and blue and green in the wealthier white neighborhoods. Through the conversation Olivia learned that it’s important not to believe what people say and to celebrate her community.

I haven’t seen any other picture book take on the subject of redlining, a process that devalues Black neighborhoods and impacts overall investment in them. Here the subject is explained in a way that young children will understand, both in fear of the dangers of those neighborhoods and in a celebration of the community that continues. The facts about redlining are shared openly and clearly. The illustrations help emphasize what lack of investment does and also how vibrant a community can be despite those systemic abuses. 

A look at a complex socio-economic process in a way children can comprehend. Appropriate for ages 5-8.

A book cover for Under One Roof by Miranda Paul and Baptiste Paul, illustrated by Christopher Silas Neal. Shows a group of houses with people at the windows surrounded by clouds under a starry night sky with a moon and an owl flying.

Under One Roof by Miranda Paul and Baptiste Paul, illustrated by Christopher Silas Neal

  • Publisher: Clarion Books
  • Publication Date: February 3, 2026
  • Reviewed from Edelweiss e-galley
  • ISBN: 9780358576594

Told in rhyming couplets, this picture book celebrates all sorts of families and how they get ready for bedtime. Everyone falls asleep under the same roof of night sky, stars and moon. Some families are all together, others are snuggling in pillow forts at grandma’s, some live far apart or have family members who have died. Some stay connected via phones, others via letters. Some had to leave their homes because of storms, others camp outdoors. Some greet new babies, others sleep in their cars. Through it all, the sky remains the roof they are all beneath.

The writing is very inviting with the rhymes serving as a way to tie all the diverse families together into one story. The use of the image of the sky as a comforting roof above all is also very nicely kept as a focus throughout the story. The result is a book filled with warmth and inclusivity. The illustrations echo that same feel as they show diverse families, large and small, nuclear and otherwise experiencing a variety of homes and beds. In their author’s and illustrator’s notes, the creators share their own life experiences moving and changing where they sleep.

The perfect bedtime read for those who travel and those who stay. Appropriate for ages 2-5.

Some of Us: A Story of Citizenship and the United States by Rajani LaRocca – Book Recommendation

| Tasha

Some of Us: A Story of Citizenship and the United States by Rajani LaRocca, illustrated by Huy Voun Lee 

Publisher: Christy Ottaviano Books

Publication Date: May 27, 2025

Reviewed from library copy

ISBN: 9780316571753

This is the story of people who choose to become Americans. They come from around the world at all ages. Some come alone, others being family, most leave people they love behind. Some come to study and work while others are refugees fleeing their countries. They add so much to our country. They bring new music, food, and language. They do many jobs. They study hard and eventually take a citizenship test to formally become American. 

Written by an immigrant to the U.S. and illustrated by a refugee, this book is engaging and vibrant. It shares with children the many reasons people may come to live in the United States, emphasizing that they still remain part of their original culture, bringing those elements with them and not losing themselves in the process. The illustrations are full of diversity, capturing the many people from across the world coming to the United States to live. 

Ideal to share in classes learning about citizenship and immigration. Appropriate for ages 5-7.

From the Tops of the Trees by Kao Kalia Yang

| Tasha
Cover image for From the Tops of the Trees.

From the Tops of the Trees by Kao Kalia Yang, illustrated by Rachel Wada (9781541581302)

A true story from the Hmong author’s childhood, this picture book brings readers to the Ban Vinai Refugee Camp in Thailand in 1985. Their days are filled with hunger and finding fruit that they can pretend are candy. The aunties in the camp talk about the war and their fears of returning to the old country or heading to a new country. Every week the families in the camp are given enough food for three days. It’s a practice meant to deter other Hmong refugees from entering the country. After Kao asks about the world beyond the camp, her father takes her to the tallest tree in camp, climbs with her to the highest branches, and gives her a view of the world beyond the camp.

Yang shows the view of the refugee camp from that of a small child living there. The day is filled with happy moments like riding one of the dogs and racing the chickens for rice balls. Yet there is no escaping that they are in a refugee camp. Yang shares this by having the adults talk about the war, showing the food disbursement, and having Kao explain that they can’t leave but others can enter. The climb into the branches is dramatic and inspiring, a look a freedom that could not be more moving and tangible.

Wada uses a mix of traditional media like graphite and watercolor with digital tools. She shows Yang’s small family, using more saturated colors to pull them out of the crowds and to keep the focus on the young Kao in the camps. The colors are sandy and subtle, becoming deeper as they reach the treetop to see the world around them.

Another gorgeous and skilled picture book from Yang that captures the experience of the Hmong refugee camps and Hmong Americans. Appropriate for ages 5-8.

Reviewed from e-galley provided by Carolrhoda Books.

The Capybaras by Alfredo Soderguit

| Tasha
Cover image.

The Capybaras by Alfredo Soderguit (9781771647823)

The farm was a safe place where life was comfortable and everyone knew their role. There were chickens who had plenty of food and a rather vicious dog who guarded them. Then one day, the capybaras emerged from the swampy part of the pen. There was no room for them there and they were not expected. The hens found them too big, too hairy and too wet. But the capybaras couldn’t go home because the hunting season had started. So the hens set some rules where they would not share food, or their dry pen, or tolerate any noise. Then one day after a chick had a misadventure, everything changed. The capybaras had saved the chick and now they were allowed to sleep in the chicken coop, share food and live together. Then hunting season ended and the capybaras prepared to leave. What were the new friends to do?

This picture book was originally published in Spanish in Latin America. Soderguit has a marvelous gift for wry understatement or in fact just stating the opposite of what is actually happening in the illustrations. This contributes to a sense that horrible things are happening off the page and the characters live in real denial, even before the capybaras arrive. The entire book works beautifully as a statement about refugees, tolerance and building a community.

The illustrations are a marvel of quiet moments with a lot of the power of the book being the things in the illustrations that go unremarked upon in the text. The illustrations are done in pen and ink with pops of orange color and the deep browns of the capybaras. The wide-eyed capybaras contrast impressively with the white chickens and their delicate life balance.

Profound and remarkable. Appropriate for ages 5-8.

Reviewed from e-galley provided by Greystone Kids.

Wishes by Muon Thi Van

| Tasha
Cover image for Wishes

Wishes by Muon Thi Van, illustrated by Victo Ngai (9781338305890)

This picture book achingly captures the refugee experience in simple words. Throughout the book, the entire world wishes that it could do more to support the fleeing people. The night wishes it was quieter. When the family says goodbye to grandparents, the clock wishes it were slower. As they board the small boat, the boat wishes it were bigger. The storm rages over them and wishes it were calmer. The sun beats down, wishing it were cooler. Eventually, their small boat is met by rescuers in a large vessel and they are taken on board. So the little girl doesn’t have to wish any more.

It’s incredible what Van has managed to do in so few words in this book. One can feel, reading each page, the ache of loss even while there is a potential of a better life just beyond all of the dangers. The emotions are raw on the pages, the profound sadness felt deeply and the entire world trying to give these people a new chance. The author is a refugee whose family fled Vietnam and spent a month at sea. That experience resonates in the simple words that are imbued with a deep empathy and understanding.

Ngai’s illustrations are haunting and beautiful. They show the humanness of refugees, the little girl regularly making eye contact with the reader, her face filled in turn with sadness, dread and relief. The illustrations create moving moments, when the sun fills the page with its searing heat or the first glimpse of rescue is in sight.

An incredible feat of storytelling and art. Appropriate for ages 4-7.

Reviewed from e-galley provided by Scholastic.

Yang Warriors by Kao Kalia Yang

| Tasha
Cover image.

Yang Warriors by Kao Kalia Yang, illustrated by Billy Thao (9781517907983)

In the Ban Vinai refugee camp, there is a group of young warriors who train together. They run drills, balance rocks on their heads, meditate and wield branches as sacred swords. They are led by Master Me, a ten-year-old who teaches them. One day, Master Me meditated and decided that the warriors must leave camp and forage for greens. But no Hmong person was allowed to leave the camp without permission. People had been beaten for doing it and some had even disappeared. But Master Me was set on carrying out the mission. The narrator of the story is a young girl whose older sister was in the warrior group. She was 7 years old, scared but determined to carry out the mission. That day, the warriors stealthily left camp and returned carrying morning glory greens. Many were injured on the mission, but that day they became more than children playing at being warriors and became true heroes to everyone in the camp.

Yang tells the story of life in a Hmong refugee camp through the eyes of her childhood self. The hardships, violence and rules of being in such a camp are foundational to the overall story, though not the direct focus. The tale really is about the power of children to be heroes for their families, the determination and courage to take action in the face of injustice, and the way that real life heroes are so much more important than those with capes.

The illustrations by Thao are unique and interesting. He makes each of the children recognizable even though they move as a group of warriors. He uses interesting frames throughout the images, showing the children through doorways or from the fire itself as danger increases. The illustrations are stirring and also show just how young these children were.

A tale of child heroes in a Hmong refugee camp that is worth cheering for. Appropriate for ages 4-7.

Reviewed from copy provided by University of Minnesota Press.

Mexique by María José Ferrada

| Tasha
Cover image for Mexique

Mexique by María José Ferrada, illustrated by Ana Penyas (9780802855459)

In a true story, over 400 children fled the violence of the Spanish Civil War. They were put on a boat and sent to Morelia, Mexico in 1937. Their families expected only to be separated from them for a few months, like an extended summer vacation, nothing more. Told from the point of view of one of the children, this book shows their time aboard the boat to their arrival in Mexico. The war was a hand that shook their lives apart, separated them and sent them adrift. But there were other hands too, hands of the older children who took care of the little ones. Not all of the older children were kind, sometimes stealing from the little kids. They arrived in Mexico, bringing the impact of the war with them, heading unknowingly into permanent exile.

Ferrada’s text is poetic and haunting. She writes of the hope of when the children embark, the bitter choice that their parents had to make in sending them to safety. She writes of the time aboard ship, of games played and small wars fought. She writes of long lonely nights at sea until the waving crowds welcome them to Mexico. The story stops there, continued in an afterword the explains what happened to the “Children of Morelia” and what history had in store for them.

The illustrations are just as haunting as the text. Done in a limited color palette with often jagged lines of ship railings and waves, they are sharp and unsettling. Showing the somber farewells, the crowds of children, they are sorrowful and foretell the longer refugee story ahead.

Somber, beautiful and timely. Appropriate for ages 5-7.

Reviewed from copy provided by Eerdman’s Books for Young Readers.

The Suitcase by Chris Naylor-Ballesteros

| Tasha

The Suitcase by Chris Naylor-Ballesteros (9780358329602)

One day, a strange animal arrived with a big suitcase. He was frightened and dusty. The other animals who lived there, came out and started asking him what was in his big suitcase. He answered that there is a teacup inside, along with a table and chair. In fact, he went on to tell them that his entire home is in the suitcase, a wooden cabin with the hillside it sat on. Then the animal curled up and went to sleep. The others knew there was only one way to find out if the animal was telling the truth. They had to open the suitcase! But what was inside surprised them all and gave them a way to say they were sorry for breaking into his belongings.

This picture book shows the importance of a few belongings from home for refugees. Through the eyes of the strange teal animal, young readers will feel outraged that the others broke into his suitcase but also will be amazed at what they go on to do next. One wrong can be undone as long as care and empathy is given in its place. The book does not lecture at all, allowing the lessons learned to be organically presented in the story.

The art is simple and clear, filled with animals of different colors. The animals pop on the clean white page while sepia tones are used to look back at the new animal’s homeland. They are echoed in the photograph that they discover too. The text contains a lot of dialogue done in colors that match each of the animals, so no speech bubbles are needed.

A gentle and empathetic look at welcoming someone to your community and honoring where they have come from. Appropriate for ages 3-5.

Reviewed from e-galley provided by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

The Paper Boat by Thao Lam

| Tasha

The Paper Boat by Thao Lam

The Paper Boat by Thao Lam (9781771473637)

Inspired by her own family’s refugee story, this wordless picture book shares the story of a family fleeing Vietnam. Ant crawl around the food on the table in Vietnam, lured into a bowl of sugar water. A little girl saves the ants from the trap and prevents them from drowning. Meanwhile outside the window, tanks and soldiers appear and the family flees into the night, separating from one another. The little girl and her mother hide in the tall grass, narrowly avoiding the searching soldiers. The girl notices a line of ants leaving the grass. They follow the ants and discover the shore where they wait for the boat to carry them away. In the meantime, they make a paper boat from a food wrapper that is used by the ants to escape across the water too. In a new country, the family gathers around a table together, the ants arrive as well.

Lam’s art is exceptional. She has created a detailed world of harrowing dangers in her depiction of Vietnam. Just having the money and papers mixed with bowls of food on the family table indicates a family ready to flee. The loving family provide moments of connection even as they flee, caring for the spirits of the little one among them.

The most powerful piece of the book is when the ants venture onto the sea in their small paper boat. Some ants perish on the journey, hunger is an issue, and they barely survive, in the end swimming to the safety of the shore. That allegory allows the dangers of the journey to be shown in detail but through ants rather than the direct loss of the characters. It’s powerful and also appropriate for children to begin to understand.

This important wordless picture book tells the refugee story with empathy and strength. Appropriate for ages 5-7.

Reviewed from e-galley provided by Owlkids.