boy watching sailboat from shore

Books About the Cross-Cultural Experience for Kids & Teens

Compiled by World Family Education

Books are a great way to open up your child’s imagination to what life will be like in another culture and what it means to be a cross-cultural kid. Included in this list are some nonfiction options and a variety of books with stories about moving, adjusting to a new culture, loss, grief, building self-confidence, and more. All books are in English, unless noted otherwise.

You can also explore other helpful pages at World Family Education:

Nonfiction for Kids & Teens

never in a hurry

my very exciting

club expat

kids on the move

maps

maps activity book

<a href="https://www.bookdepository.com/Arrivals-Departures-Adventures-Between-Christopher-OShaughnessy/9781909193727/?a_aid=100508" style="color: #ffffff" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong>ARRIVALS, DEPARTURES, AND THE ADVENTURES IN-BETWEEN</strong><br>
<em>By Christopher O'Shaughnessy</em><br>
Growing up and transitioning cross-culturally can present unexpected challenges and bestow surprising skills. This is a book of adventures to help identify some of those challenges and use some of those skills in your own life – which is important because you’ve got more to contribute to the world than you realize.</a>

<a href="https://www.bookdepository.com/Hiding-Hallway-Jeanne-Harrison/9781625915313/?a_aid=100508" style="color: #ffffff" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong>HIDING IN THE HALLWAY</strong><br><em>By Jeanne Harrison</em><br>Written specifically to Christian missionary teens, Hiding in the Hallways offers MKs a biblical context for their faith in light of their unique circumstances, challenges, and opportunities. </a>

<a href="https://www.awin1.com/cread.php?awinmid=5487&awinaffid=799097&clickref=25+Activities+to+Help+Kids&ued=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.bookdepository.com%2F25-Activities-Help-Kids-Connect-Reflect--Thrive-Around-the-World-Leah-Moorefield-Evans-Jodi-Harris-Msw%2F9781985388857%2F" style="color: #ffffff" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong>KIDS ON THE MOVE<br></strong><em>By Leah Moorefield Evans and Jodi Harris, MSW</em><br>Any globally mobile kid will tell you it's not just the suitcases that get heavy with each move. With these 25 invaluable activities, young people learn to turn toward what they're experiencing and to seek to understand what they find there, so that a life lived between worlds becomes truly a life of opportunity. </a>

Fiction for Younger Kids

<a href="https://www.bookdepository.com/Heart-Bottle-Oliver-Jeffers/9780007182343/?a_aid=100508" style="color: #ffffff" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong>THE HEART AND THE BOTTLE</strong><br><em>By Oliver Jeffers<br></em>Once there was a girl whose life was filled with wonder at the world around her... Then one day something happened that made the girl take her heart and put it in a safe place. </a>

<a href="https://www.bookdepository.com/Double-Happiness-Nancy-Tupper-Ling-Alina-Chau/9781452129181/?a_aid=100508" style="color: #ffffff" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong>DOUBLE HAPPINESS<br></strong><em>By Nancy Tupper Ling<br></em>With grace and warmth, this lyrical picture book speaks to the difficulty of transition, and celebrates the ways in which love and family give us the strength to weather life's changes.</a>

<a href="https://www.bookdepository.com/Dear-Juno-Soyung-Pak/9780142300176/?a_aid=100508" style="color: #ffffff" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong>DEAR JUNO<br></strong><em>By Soyung Pak<br></em>Juno's grandmother writes in Korean and Juno writes in drawings, but that doesn't mean they can't exchange letters.</a>

<a href="https://www.bookdepository.com/Somewhere-World-Right-Now-Stacey-Schuett/9780679885498/?a_aid=100508" style="color: #ffffff" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong>SOMEWHERE IN THE WORLD RIGHT NOW</strong><br><em>By Stacey Schuett<br></em>This book explains to children the complexities of time zones, countries, and continents through terrific verse and paintings, as well as using a simplistic and fun process to describe all the different things that could be happening around the world at any moment.</a>

goodbye

dear baobab

my two blankets

the mission of detective mike

I hate english

the favorite daughter

tea with milk

grandfather's journey

One Green apple

the name jar

everywhere wonder

doesn't match

<a href="https://www.bookdepository.com/Yoko-Rosemary-Wells/9781423119838/?a_aid=100508" style="color: #ffffff" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong>YOKO</strong><br> <em>By Rosemary Wells</em><br>Mmm, Yoko's mom has packed her favorite for lunch today-sushi! But her classmates don't think it looks quite so yummy. "Ick!" says one of the Franks. "It's seaweed!"</a>

yoko writes her name

<a href="https://www.bookdepository.com/Yoko-Learns-Read-Rosemary-Wells/9781423138235/?a_aid=100508" style="color: #ffffff" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong>YOKO LEARNS TO READ</strong><br> <em>By Rosemary Wells</em><br> Yoko is eager to learn how to read, and Mama wants to help her. But they only have three picture books at home, all in Japanese. </a>

the rabbit listened

swirly

moving planet isn't easy

slurping soup

my moving booklet

B at home

sammy's next move

<a href="https://www.bookdepository.com/Going-Home-Eve-Bunting/9780780780781/?a_aid=100508" style="color: #ffffff" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong>GOING HOME</strong><br><em>By Eve Bunting</em><br>Christmas is coming, and Carlos and his family are going home—driving south across the border to Mexico. But Mexico doesn't seem like home to Carlos, even though he and his sisters were born there. Can home be a place you don't really remember?</a>

<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Turkey-Thanksgiving-Previously-published-Duck/dp/1338149210/" style="color: #ffffff" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong>NO TURKEY FOR THANKSGIVING</strong> <br><em>By Jacqueline Jules</em><br>When Tuyet finds out her Vietnamese family is having duck rather than turkey for Thanksgiving dinner, she is upset until she finds out that other children in her class did not eat turkey either.</a>

<a href="https://www.bookdepository.com/The-Big-Move-Clare-Rowe/9789671800300/?a_aid=100508" style="color: #ffffff" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong>THE BIG MOVE</strong><br> <em>By Clare Rowe</em><br>Join Tortoise on his journey through change, experiencing denial, resistance, exploration and commitment. At first, he has a hard time accepting that he’s moving. They tell him it will be an ADVENTURE and so much FUN, but Tortoise doesn’t believe anyone. This colourful, rhyming picture book is told from the viewpoint of a child moving to the other side of the world and how he experiences the emotions that accompany change.</a>

Fiction for Older Kids & Teens

<a href="https://www.bookdepository.com/Two-Sides-Everything-Deb-Brammer/9781591661665/?a_aid=100508" style="color: #ffffff" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong>TWO SIDES TO EVERYTHING </strong><br><em>By Deb Brammer <br></em>While his mother recuperates from an accident that has left her partially paralyzed, Josh leaves Denver and goes to stay at his Uncle Hamish's New Zealand sheep farm, where his faith in God is strengthened as he faces new challenges. </a> — TWO SIDES TO EVERYTHING
By Deb Brammer
While his mother recuperates from an accident that has left her partially paralyzed, Josh leaves Denver and goes to stay at his Uncle Hamish's New Zealand sheep farm, where his faith in God is strengthened as he faces new challenges.

What have you lost? — WHAT HAVE YOU LOST?
By Naomi Shihab Nye
Collection of poetry about loss. What have you lost? A friend? A brother? A wallet? A memory? A meaning? A year?

a step from heaven — A STEP FROM HEAVEN
By An Na
From master storyteller An Na comes the Printz Award–winning novel about a Korean girl who tells her firsthand account of trying to find her place and identity in America from the day she leaves Korea as a child to her rocky journey through the teenage years.

wooden ox — THE WOODEN OX
By Leanne Hardy
The sound of her brother's scream echoed on and on in her head as though it would never end. "Let me go!" she demanded stupidly in English. The African boy dug his nails into Keri's arm and brought the knife closer to her face. Civil war is tearing apart Mozambique, Africa. And whether she realizes it or not the war is about to become very real to Keri Anderson.

home keeps moving — HOME KEEPS MOVING
By Heidi Sand-Hart
The book follows Heidi and her missionary family on their many moves through the eyes of a third culture kid and the unique phenomena of having four very different home countries to relate to.

persepolis — PERSEPOLIS
By Marjane Satrapi
A graphic memoir of a girl growing up in Iran during the Islamic Revolution. In powerful black-and-white comic strip images, Satrapi tells the story of her life in Tehran from ages 6 to 14, years that saw the overthrow of the Shah’s regime, the triumph of the Islamic Revolution, and the devastating effects of war with Iraq. She later went to school in Austria and now lives in France. *Also in French.

the turtles of oman — THE TURTLE OF OMAN
By Naomi Shihab Nye
Aref does not want to leave Oman. He does not want to leave his elementary school, his friends, or his beloved grandfather, Sidi. He does not want to live in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where his parents will go to graduate school. His mother is desperate for him to pack his suitcase — but he refuses.

habibi — HABIBI
By Naomi Shihab Nye
The day after Liyana got her first real kiss, her life changed forever. Not because of the kiss, but because it was the day her father announced that the family was moving from St. Louis all the way to Palestine. Though her father grew up there, Liyana knows very little about her family's Arab heritage.

homesick — HOMESICK: MY OWN STORY
By Jean Fritz
This heartwarming fictionalized autobiography tells the story of what it is like for a little girl to be growing up in an unfamiliar place. While other girls her age were enjoying childhood in America, Jean Fritz was in China in the midst of political unrest.

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