Farmingdale Youth Services Department

If you are not sure how to talk to your children about the current refugee crisis, start with a book. The titles below are picture books about refugees that are set in a variety of historical periods, as well as present day. In addition to teaching children to have compassion for refugees, it's important to look at how refugees have played a part in the making of countries throughout history. Be sure to read these books aloud to your older children as well,  since picture books are a great way to introduce advanced readers to tough topics. Four Feet, Two Sandals by Karen Lynn Williams How I Learned Geography by Uri Shulevitz Passage to Freedom: The Sugihara Story by Ken Mochizuki Journey Home by Lawrence McKay, Jr. The Colour of Home by Mary Hoffman Brothers in Hope: the Story of the Lost Boys of Sudan by Mary Williams Dia's Story Cloth: The Hmong People's Journey of Freedom by  Dia Cha How Many Days to America?: A Thanksgiving Story by Eve Bunt...

I am currently reading some new juvenile fiction books that I wanted to tell you about that I feel are excellent reads and definitely worth your time. Today I will be telling you about the book  The Thing About Jellyfish by Ali Benjamin. This book is about a middle school girl named Suzanne. She is what you would call the weird, precocious kid. Her best friend Franny drowned. This is a shock to Suzanne because Franny was a strong swimmer. When her class goes to the aquarium and she wanders away from the class to the jellyfish exhibit, Franny reads about the Irukandji jellyfish and decides that Franny was stung by one of these fish and that is why she died, and not by drowning. Suzanne then fixates on the subject of jellyfish and takes it upon herself to learn about jellyfish experts and to pick one to speak with to help her confirm that yes, this is indeed why Franny died. It is the only way that she is able to make sense of her grief and of the deat...

More amazing books are celebrated today as The Children’s Book Award 2016 shortlist is announced. The award (formerly known as the Red House children’s book award) is the only books prize which is chosen and voted for entirely by children, and run by the Federation of Children’s Books Groups . Past winners include JK Rowling, Patrick Ness, Andy Stanton, Malorie Blackman, Anthony Horowitz and Michael Morpurgo who has already won a record three times, and now may achieve his fourth win! The full shortlist for the Children’s Book Award 2016 is:                       Books for Younger Children Is There a Dog in This Book? by Viviane Schwarz (Walker) Read, Steady, Jump by Jeanne Willis and Adrian Reynolds (Anderson) This Book Just Ate My Dog by Richard Byrne (Oxford) Fabulous Pie by Gareth Edwards and Guy Parker-Rees (Scholastic) Books for Younger Readers Boy in ...