Moving to a new country when one has children is a time full of emotions. For our children, infinite new opportunities and advantages can open, contrasted with fear and feelings of anguish for the inevitable unknowns that all the family members will have to face in one way or another.
It is not easy to explain to our little ones the necessity of leaving the daily routines of school, friendships, familiar figures, to find countries and cultures that are often very different from those of origin.
With this literary roundup, we would like to recommend some books written by parents that went through these moments and transformed the challenges tied to changing countries into occasions of fun and learning.
The Broccoli Family Meets the Kangaroo
or La Famiglia Broccloli incontra il canguro is a bilingual book by Elena Bertocco. The text contains fun stories for children between five and six years. Papa Broccoli is a very good vet who lives in Italy, but soon the family will have to move very far, to Australia! He will have to convince Mama Broccoli and the twins, Pietro and Margherita, that the new adventure will be extraordinary.
The book is written in both English and Italian to help children to learn new words and sounds. The great illustrations help to understand the contents and involve the young readers in the visual comprehension of the words. You can listen to an interview on the author by SBS Italiana, an Italian radio in Australian, here. The interview is in Italian.
Two Children in New York
Written by Anna Doria Lamba and illustrated by Carola Zerbone, this is a funny book, directed not only at children but also at adults that start changing country and notice reluctance in their children. The message of the book is to not get discouraged, because it is possible to find adventure, surprises, and magic even in situations that seem very difficult and often incomprehensible from a child’s point of view. In the book, New York is described as a marvelous city to discover. It is impossible to not be transported by the millions of adventures that await the two little protagonists.
The Suitcase
This book is written and illustrated by Chris Naylor-Ballesteros. The author is British and currently lives in France with his family. This book has a different feeling from those mentioned above. It reflects on fear of change and distrust of unfamiliar things, and focuses on the importance of values of kindness and being welcoming.
One day, a strange animal, tired and a little scared, arrives pulling a large suitcase. The chicken, the fox, and the rabbit are curious to know what could be in it. The stranger says the suitcase holds his entire house. Not believing that, when the animal falls asleep, they break the suitcase, and therefore all its contents.
The ending is very sweet. The Suitcase has been translated into more than twenty languages. In this YouTube Video, the author reads the book out loud. Here you can also find the author’s website.
Riciclattoli
This book is written by a dear friend of Expatclic, Valentina Cavalli, an Italian expatriated to Munich, and simply and directly presents game activities and entertainment for children. It has not been translated to English. Ricliclattoli is a book full of ideas you can use to keep your children occupied and help them have fun, in difficult moments such as while moving or after having moved. Changing country is always a delicate circumstance that requires patience and time before our children can adapt to the new reality. So why not use material you will surely already have (boxes, packing paper, stickers) to let creativity take flight and have fun with your kids.
Finally, I would like to mention this very interesting article on Expatclic, Top Tips on Moving Abroad with Children, which presents tips and strategies on how to deal with an international move with children, from saying goodbye to friends to packing their favorite things.
Alessandra Giacchi, translated from Italian by EDV
Photo by cottonbro studio from Pexels