Sharing Stories

Sharing Stories

One of the easiest ways to help our children understand the world we live in is through the use of stories as part of our English curriculum. Below you can find the moving and thoughtful texts we use to learn about the experiences of refugees and asylum seekers, or to celebrate and highlight the wonderful diversity and uniqueness of every one of us in this world.

Year One

Have you heard of the Beasts? No, not many people have. That's because they are very rare. This is the tale of one such Beast, whose determination to overcome his loneliness leads him to undertake a daring and dangerous quest to find others like him . . .

A warm, welcoming picture book that celebrates diversity and gives encouragement and support to all kids.
Follow a group of children through a day in their school, where everyone is welcomed with open arms. A school where kids in patkas, hijabs, and yamulkes play side-by-side with friends in baseball caps. A school where students grow and learn from each other's traditions and the whole community gathers to celebrate the Lunar New Year.

All Are Welcome lets young children know that no matter what, they have a place, they have a space, they are welcome in their school.

In the beginning there were just three colours: red, yellow and blue. Reds were the loudest, Yellows were the brightest and Blues were the coolest but they all lived harmoniously together… Until the day a renegade Red decides that ‘Reds are the best!’ and the colours divide to live in separate parts of the city.

When a cool Blue and a bright Yellow fall in love and create little Green, a completely new colour, will it be greeted with disapproval by the rest of the colour-world or might it serve as a blueprint for the restoration of harmonious cooperation?

A funny, vibrantly illustrated, allegorical tale that celebrates individual differences and talents and has an inspiring message about understanding, acceptance and peaceful co-existence.

Reds love being red. Yellows love being yellow. And Blues love being blue. The problem is that they just don't like each other.

But one day, along comes a different colour who likes Reds, Yellows and Blues, and suddenly everything starts to change.

Maybe being different doesn't mean you can't be friends ...

A very special picture book that supports the adage that there is more that unites us than divides us. Along Came a Different just goes to show how much better we can all be when we come together to find common ground as friends. Every bookshelf should have a copy.

Year Two

When a strange-looking animal arrives pulling a big suitcase, the other animals are curious. What on earth could be inside that suitcase? A teacup? Maybe. A table and chair? Perhaps.

A whole home and hillside with trees? This stranger must be fibbing! But when the animals break into the suitcase and discover a very special photograph, they begin to understand what the strange creature has been through, and together they create a very special welcome present ...

This is the story of a bird that fits in your hand flying halfway around the world looking for a place to nest. This is the story of a young girl from northern Africa fleeing halfway around the world looking for a place of peace. This is the story of Bird. This is the story of Leila. This is the story of a chance encounter and a long journey home.

Let yourself be swept along on this tale of an epic journey by the tiny swallow during its winter migration to Africa. This journey is entwined with that of a young girl, Leila fleeing danger in her home in North Africa and, like the swallow, being welcomed to her new home and safety. This touching story is a wonderful way to open up discussions about friendship, compassion and empathy. The illustrations by Manuela Adreani are tender and sensitive, and capture beautifully this book with an underlying powerful message.

Year Three

An unflinching look at the lives of a group of refugee children from Afghanistan and Iran. . . Sparse text combined with Miralpeix’s arresting full-page colour photographs intimately capture the kids’ daily lives. . . . For all readers, this moving look at these young people and their hopes and dreams could lead to greater understanding and empathy for all displaced youth.

Year Four

This is the story about how one ordinary nine-year-old child and three classmates are full of empathy for Ahmet, a boy that comes to their school as a refugee from Syria (he is the boy at the back of the class).

Through their sensitivity, curiosity, ingenuity, bravery and innocent niceness, they make a massive impact on Ahmet’s life, friends, class, school, community and wider world. There’s a lovely lack of stereotyping on gender and backstory for the narrator, which adds to the message of not judging people before you know them.

An inspiring and sweet tale that will help children think about what it is to be a good person whatever your circumstances (the narrator is from a poor background with a single parent mum who struggles to make ends meet), and challenge prejudice and push for fairness, whenever possible.

An unflinching look at the lives of a group of refugee children from Afghanistan and Iran. . . Sparse text combined with Miralpeix’s arresting full-page colour photographs intimately capture the kids’ daily lives. . . . For all readers, this moving look at these young people and their hopes and dreams could lead to greater understanding and empathy for all displaced youth.

Year Five

Winner of the Books Are My Bag Readers Award Aya is eleven years old and has just arrived in Britain with her mum and baby brother, seeking asylum from war in Syria. When Aya stumbles across a local ballet class, the formidable dance teacher spots her exceptional talent and believes that Aya has the potential to earn a prestigious ballet scholarship. But at the same time, Aya and her family must fight to be allowed to remain in the country, to make a home for themselves and to find Aya's father - separated from the rest of the family during the journey from Syria. With beautiful, captivating writing, wonderfully authentic ballet detail, and an important message championing the rights of refugees, this is classic storytelling - filled with warmth, hope and humanity.

Year Six

Inspired by a true story. It's 1940, and Joseph has been packed off to stay with Mrs F, a gruff woman with no great fondness for children. To Joseph's amazement, she owns the rundown city zoo where Joseph meets Adonis, a huge silverback gorilla. Adonis is ferociously strong and dangerous, but Joseph finds he has an affinity with the lonely beast. But when the bombs begin to fall, it is up to Joseph to guard Adonis's cage should it be damaged by a blast. Will Joseph be ready to pull the trigger if it comes to it?