Justice July – Refugees (continued)

The last blog referred to a number of picture books of them Home and Away is my favourite, and it seems to resonate the most with students. Perhaps because it doesn’t have the “otherness” that elicits the shallow response from students (like it couldn’t happen to me, it doesn’t happen in Australia, that is not our problem) by focussing on a family like their own.  Having read and discussed Home and Away with students, I would then turn to Deborah Ellis’ – No Safe Place in which Abdul, escapes Baghdad and attempts to make it to England.  The descriptions of life in Calais for migrants whilst awaiting escape across the English Channel were quite disturbing and assuming they are accurate I wonder how much we as tourists notice when we are going through such places or are we blind to the situation (do we just look through people?)  Of course, Gleitzman’s Boy Overboard would also be good (for a younger/less able reader).  In all three the boat descriptions warrant a comparison with  asylum seekers boat journeys to  Australia and as I write this blog another 90 people are assumed lost on their way to Christmas Island.

There are teachers’ notes available for No Safe Place and Boy Overboard and I love Gleitzman’s website.