My New Home After Syria

My New Home After Syria is part of the “Leaving My Homeland: After the Journey” series from Crabtree Publishing. This series continues the fictional stories, begun in the Crabtree Publishing series, “Leaving My Homeland”. These are the stories of individual young people who have been forced by circumstance to become refugees.

My New Home After Syria tells the story of Roj, a fictional child from Syria, and his family as they settle in their new home in Altena, Germany.

Statistics, maps, background information about the homeland country, Syria, set the family’s story in context.

Scattered through the book are different articles of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. These articles are a clear reminder that all refugees, including children, have rights. A resource listed at the end of the book leads the reader to a United Nations website that explains these rights in child-friendly language.

Like other books in the series, My New Home After Syria includes a table of contents, a simple glossary, an index, and a page of resources for additional information. Each book ends with a list of discussion prompts to help the reader recall and consolidate the information in the book.

Also included are text boxes titled “Story in Numbers”. Combined with the fictional personal narratives, these statistics give a clear picture of the experiences of refugees. Some examples of the numbers are:

More than 11 million Syrians have fled their homes. This is more than half the population of Syria. Of these people, more than 4 million have left the country.

70 percent of all Syrian refugees granted asylum in Europe have settled in Germany.

Almost 1 in 3 asylum seekers arriving in Germany are under the age of 18. Some arrive with their families. Others fled alone or lost their families during the dangerous journey.

In the story, Roj and his family fled from Syria when Roj was 10-years-old. They nearly drowned during their dangerous journey across the Mediterranean and were separated from Roj’s sister, but fortunately she was reunited with the family months later. Roj’s first-person narrative describes the help that his family received to “complete forms that would allow us to stay in Germany, help Baba apply for jobs, and let us go to school. Harald helped us find our way around the village where we live, and taught us how to ride the bus.”

In addition to the narrative, the book also includes information about some of the problems experienced by refugees.

Germany does not have enough people to fill all of the jobs available there. Refugees play an important role in filling these jobs. They also bring different ideas and traditions. This can enrich their local communities.

But some people in Germany are afraid of refugees. Often they are scared because the refugees are different in their dress, language, and religion. Some Germans believe that Germany has accepted too many refugees. These people worry that the refugees will take over their communities, jobs, and homes. Refugees often face discrimination from people who believe this.

Each book ends with a section titled “Do Not Forget Our Stories!” The one misstep in this book is a confusing photo in this section. The same photo is also on the cover of the book. The photo shows six people forming a line by holding hands. They seem to be in a town square. The caption reads, “Refugees need help from others as they start new lives far from their families, friends, and homeland.” The six people are wearing western style clothing and don’t appear to be refugees. The line formed by the people appears to be creating more of a barrier than a helping hand.

Despite this one confusing photo, I highly recommend My New Home After Syria. It will help students who have never been refugees understand some of the hardships that refugees experience. The book’s contents may help students develop greater empathy with newcomers to their schools and communities.