【the problem of eroticizing sexual abuse in media】

Over the past several weeks,the problem of eroticizing sexual abuse in media we've had heartrending conversations about what's happening to migrant children and their families at the U.S. border.

The Trump administration's "zero tolerance" immigration policy has separated children from their parents and raised the possibility that the U.S. will indefinitely detain migrants, even those seeking asylum. Explaining these recent developments to children as a parent or caregiver can feel challenging — and emotionally daunting.

SEE ALSO: 5 ways parents can talk to kids about LGBTQ identity

Yet such conversations are imperative, says Ladislava Khailova, professor at the Founders Memorial Library at Northern Illinois University. Storytelling helps children become attached to a character's fate, which can increase their empathy for the experiences and people they read about. Avoiding the subject all together, or dodging tough questions, can contribute to cultural misunderstandings that grow into hostility or even hatred toward immigrant and refugee groups over time.

"Authentic books about immigrants or refugees can change their perception of the situation."

"Authentic books about immigrants or refugees can change their perception of the situation," Khailova wrote in an email. "The books provide the children with a window into the realities of these 'others,' promoting understanding and respect of their emotions and needs — which, in turn, serves as a powerful catalyst for diversity acceptance and the desire for social justice."

Those stories play a critical role for immigrant or refugee children, too: "[R]eading books about others like them then also enhances their sense of belonging because they see their non-mainstream experience reflected in them."

Khailova, author of The Stories We Share: A Guide to PreK—12 Books on the Experience of Immigrant Children and Teens in the United States, gave Mashable five suggestions for books that can generate both empathy and self-acceptance. If you're looking for additional recommendations, check out the titles compiled by Brightly and Little Feminist. The site EmbraceRace, which features resources for parents, caregivers, experts, and educators, offers broader articles on how to read and talk about race and ethnicity with kids.

Whatever you do, consider one of the many available books on this subject your opportunity to teach a child compassion, inclusion, and kindness.

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Azzi in Between

By Sarah Garland

Khailova: "This beautiful book in a comic-strip format focuses on the difficulties associated with coming to a new country as a refugee. Told from the perspective of Azzi, a young child, the story opens in an unnamed, war-torn city with elements of Middle Eastern architecture and then shifts to an unspecified English-speaking country, where Azzi’s family escapes by boat. The book explores such common elements of a refugee journey as the separation from a loved one, the need to adjust to more modest living circumstances, the parents’ inability to work while waiting for a permit, and a language barrier resulting in social isolation." Recommended for grades 2 through 5. 

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Devolver al Remitente (Return to Sender)

Julia Alvarez

Khailova: "Claiming fictionality but linked to current sociopolitical reality, Alvarez’s novel offers a discussion-provoking view of undocumented immigrants. Told from the alternating perspectives of two sixth-graders — Mari Cruz, a Mexican-born daughter of undocumented laborers, and Tyler Paquette, a son of Vermont dairy-farm owners — the story shows that the opinions some hold about the presence of immigrants in the U.S. can change once they develop close relationships with members of the group." Recommended for grades 4 through 7. Available in Spanish and English.

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Home of the Brave

Katherine Applegate

Khailova: "Written in free verse, this hopeful narrative focuses on a preteen Sudanese refugee’s struggle to make Minnesota his new home despite the differences in climate, landscape, and day-to-day life. The most significant of the bridges Kek forms between the two seemingly incompatible worlds is his caring for a widowed farmer’s cow. Having come from a tribe of herders, the boy experiences the comforting feeling of temporarily re-gaining all he has “lost” through the animal — with his prior experiences including his father’s and older brother’s deaths and mother’s disappearance in the Sudanese genocide. Amusing cultural mishaps, such as Kek mistakenly washing his aunt’s dishes in a laundry machine, lighten the tone of the otherwise very emotional story." Recommended for grades 5 through 8. 

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Journey of the Sparrows

Fran Leeper Buss with Daisy Cubias

Khailova: "Buss’ novel provides middle-schoolers with the opportunity to learn more about the day-to-day struggles of refugees. The story is based on interviews Buss conducted with undocumented workers and is centered on the 15-year-old artistic narrator María, her older pregnant sister Julia, and their 6-year-old sickly brother Oscar, who flee their peasant village in El Salvador following the brutal killings of their father and Julia’s husband by soldiers. After a brief stay in Mexico, they endure a horrendous journey to mid-winter Chicago nailed in crates at the back of a smuggler’s truck. The book makes clear that they lack safety even when in the U.S., with the siblings living in constant danger of deportation and life-threatening poverty while supporting themselves by the odd jobs of sewing, cleaning, and dish-washing. Despite the constant setbacks they experience, a thin thread of hope and faith runs through the narrative." Recommended for grades 5 through 9.

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My Name Is Jorge: On Both Sides of the River

By Jane Medina

Khailova: "This touching collection of bilingual poems is centered on the identity crisis an immigrant child experiences based on the painful difference between the sense of self he developed in his home country and in the U.S. In Mexico, 11-year-old Jorge “used to be the smartest one” in his grade, impressing many by masterfully reciting poetry. Now he appears “dumb,” and is discriminated against and ridiculed for his limited English proficiency and acculturation. Gradually, he establishes some sense of belonging, forming a friendship with a non-Hispanic classmate, only to have to return to Mexico after his grandmother’s passing." Recommended for grades 3 through 7. 

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Topics Activism Books Social Good Family & Parenting Immigration