WTBA is a collection of and conversation about powerful books that strengthen, elevate, inspire and help to grow powerful, resilient kids. We're a book oriented guide for parents, grandparents, educators, aunts, uncles and anyone involved in nurturing children and caring for friends.
This mini-documentary (only 25 minutes) tells the story of a Holocaust survivor, the violin he acquired in a displaced person camp and how it came to be in the hands of a young girl living in the Bronx. So much generosity, gratitude and love shown here.
Read Moreages 5 years and up (if you're willing to read out subtitles)
Here’s a wonderful movie that you might like to try for a family movie night. Children of Heaven is an Iranian film about a boy who loses his sister’s only pair of shoes. Their family is poor and their mother is ill so the children conspire to share the boy’s shoes. It’s sad, funny, charming and troubling all at once.
A story about letting go of fear to find freedom. It's a nice reminder of the courage of refugees and asylum seekers and an. enticing story to capture the attention of early teens—great for helping them to recognise the good things in life (like freedom and family).
One book each (adult and child) to help us know and feel what it is to be a refugee: certain that there was no choice but to leave, yet living a life devoid of sureness. Both are beautiful to look at, both tell personal stories respectfully and without compromise.
ages 8 years and up
This is a truly remarkable book – the sort that makes you gasp and know that it needs to be in your house, on your table and hopefully in the hearts of your family. It’s a refugee story and perhaps a Christmas fable - there’s a mother and a baby, a father and a donkey.
ages about 8 to grownup
The dreadful realities of history include events and times like the Cultural Revolution in China. Times that test the limits of our imaginations and our resolve. The Red Piano is a beautifully told story that takes us into the life of a young girl living through the Cultural Revolution.
Have you seen this remarkable—though gruelling—webpage? It’s called Where the children sleep and it shows a series of images of sleeping children who have been displaced by the war in Syria. There are 22 images, each with a few words about the child's circumstances.
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For a less gruelling but still thought-provoking look at the wildly disparate sleeping places of children around the world we’d recommend Where Children Sleep. (The book and the web page are unrelated even though they have similar names.) I’ve seen many a child and adult sit and pore over the pages of this breathtaking book.
A conversation about books + kids. A website resource and book reviews for educators, parents, grandparents. The main focus is emotional resilience.
