Nominated for the BLUE SPRUCE AWARD!!
Publisher: SECOND STORY PRESS RELEASED: April 20th, 2021
A simple act of kindness welcomes two little girls, both refugees, to a new home generations apart.
A young girl and her family arrive in an airport in a new country. They are refugees, migrants who have travelled across the world to find safety. Strangers greet them, and one of them gifts the little girl with a doll. Decades later, that little girl is grown up, and she has the chance to welcome a group of refugees who are newly arrived in her adopted country. To the youngest of them, a little girl, she gifts a doll, knowing it will help make her feel welcome. Inspired by the author’s own experience as a child refugee, when a stranger’s wonderful gift made such a difference that she was determined to repeat it years later.
This story is about a doll I was given when I first arrived in Canada, at the age of five, as a refugee from the Vietnam war 40 yrs ago. Adrienne, the young girl who gave me the doll remains a special part of my life. Her act of kindness 40 yrs ago ripples forth through the years as I, in turn, recently sponsored a Syrian refugee family. It was my turn to give the little Alma a doll. In 2018, the doll was displayed at Pier 21 Museum in Halifax, and for the next five years, she will be travelling across Canada to tell our story.
You can order a copy through Chapters, Amazon, Audreys Books, or the publisher Second Story Press:
https://secondstorypress.ca/kids/the-doll
Letters:
“I am a literature fanatic and teacher so am always eager to add to my collection. Little did I know what I would find as I opened the pages of your books. I feel compelled to reach out to say thank you for sharing your stories. Your books are a treasure to behold. I just finished my Reading Specialist certification and as part of my studies I spent a great amount of time researching Culturally Responsive teaching and how I can work with teachers to ensure we are creating ‘mirrors’ and ‘windows’ in our classrooms. Mirrors are when students can see themselves in the text and windows are when you can see into the life of someone else. I am thrilled to be able to use your stories this year as we develop this concept” – 2021
“I read your book The Doll with my daughter today, and it brought back memories. I too was a boat person that fled Vietnam as a young child with my family and we also lived 8 months in Malaysia, in Kota Kinabalu.
We landing in Montreal and eventually moved to Ottawa. I had told my daughter about my journey to Canada as a young child and I told her that I was a lucky one to be able to escape a war and be sponsored by families that belong to a church.
I asked my daughter why she chose this book, she said because she wanted to know about how I got Canada and what happened to the other people that were like me. I told that she was reading this because the author shared the same story as me.
Thank you for sharing this story and as I want my daughter to be kind and help others.” – 2022
Reviews
https://www.cbc.ca/books/the-best-canadian-picture-books-of-2021-1.6293446
https://www.cmreviews.ca/node/2185
https://www.cbc.ca/books/65-canadian-picture-books-to-check-out-in-spring-2021-1.6002856
https://thefoldcanada.org/fold-kids-2021-summer-reading-list/
https://quillandquire.com/omni/joy-and-diversity-qqs-summer-reading-guide-for-young-people/
hhttps://myemail.constantcontact.com/Feeling-Generous–It-s-Giving-Tuesday-.html?soid=1102561686303&aid=ALq8DMqQ_D0
CANADIAN MUSEUM OF IMMIGRATION: REFUGE CANADA
https://pier21.ca/refuge-canada-opens-at-the-canadian-museum-of-immigration-at-pier-21
https://pier21.ca/host-refuge-canada-our-newest-travelling-exhibit
Schedule
March 4, 2022 – So amazing! “When we read the book she made me promise one day she could see the doll for real one day. She could not believe her luck today
!”
2024 May – How cool it is to see The Doll published in Brazil/Portuguese.
