美国国家公共电台 NPR New Kids' Books Put A Human Face On The Refugee Crisis

 

NOEL KING, HOST:

Literature often reflects the times in which we live. And there's a recent trend in literature for young people that deals with one of the world's biggest crises - the global wave of refugees. Now, books that tell the story of the refugee experience have become something of a genre¹. NPR's Deborah Amos has this story.

(CROSSTALK)

DEBORAH AMOS, BYLINE²: In Bellevue, Wash., this seventh-grade class gathers one more time before summer vacation, and I listen in on Skype.

ROBIN³ RUSSELL: I'm Robin.

AMOS: That's Robin Russell. She teaches seventh-grade humanities at the Open Window School. All of her students read about refugees this year.

RUSSELL: I would like to introduce you to my students.

AMOS: The new crop of refugee stories explores the trauma⁴ of war and violence from a child's point of view.

RACHAEL HINES: I'm Rachael, and I read "A Long Walk To Water."

SIMMER: I'm Simmer, and I read "Child Of Dandelions."

RAYHAN KHANNA: I'm Rayhan, and I read "Refugee."

TENDO LUMALA: I'm Tendo, and I read "American Embassy."

AMOS: These novels and picture books portray⁵ treacherous⁶ sea journeys, encounters with smugglers, dangerous border crossings and overcoming bigotry⁷ when starting over in a new country. Russell says the stories are dramatic, and they're personal.

RUSSELL: And so it's not just about memorizing facts of where conflict is in the world, but your goal is for students to make personal connections with the material.

AMOS: A popular title published in May is "Marwan's Journey." As the reviews describe, Marwan is a young boy on a journey he never intended to take, bound for a place he doesn't know.

DEBORAH SLOAN: (Reading) I take giant steps even though I am small. I walk, and my footsteps leave a trace of ancient stories, the songs of my homeland and the smell of tea and bread, jasmine and earth.

AMOS: That's Deborah Sloan - in charge of marketing⁸ "Marwan's Journey." She says sales have been so strong, there's already a second printing.

SLOAN: The text is so lyrical and so beautiful without being heavy-handed.

AMOS: This trend in children's books comes as millions of civilians⁹, many of them children, are fleeing wars and insurgencies in Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq. Another wave of displaced are children coming from Central America.

VICKY SMITH: Both of those events have triggered a rush of books dealing¹⁰ with refugees, and the trend started in about 2015, and it's just been growing every year.

AMOS: Vicky Smith, children's editor at Kirkus Reviews, says book authors are responding by humanizing refugees as politicians portray them as threats.

SMITH: So it's motivated my sense of it anyway - it's motivated less for profit than it is - they all seem really designed to create empathy.

AMOS: Here's an excerpt¹¹ from Alan Gratz's book "Refugee," a New York Times best-seller in 2017. It's about a 12-year-old boy named Mahmoud Bishara, and he's from Aleppo, Syria.

ALAN GRATZ: (Reading) One of the soldiers stood in front of the car, his rifle aimed loosely at the windshield, while the others walked around the sides, peering in through the windows. The soldiers were silent, and Mahmoud closed his eyes tight, waiting for the shots to come.

AMOS: Gratz says he wanted to put what's happening in the present day into a historical context.

GRATZ: We keep making these same mistakes, that we keep turning people away at the doorstep who need help.

AMOS: He weaves the stories of three children - from the 1930s, a Jewish boy whose family tried to escape Nazi¹² Germany; in the 1970s, a Cuban girl's exodus¹³ from Havana and 12-year-old Mahmoud fleeing war with his family. The book is popular with teen readers who hear the news about refugees and some who've experienced it firsthand.

GRATZ: Many of them go to school with kids who've been through this. I go to some schools where they have, like, an 85 percent refugee population.

AMOS: Gratz was once a middle school teacher, and he welcomes the challenge of kids who are skeptical¹⁴, repeating what they've heard from their parents.

GRATZ: And I can get in there, and I can say, wait, wait, wait. Read this book. Let's talk about what's really going on. And if they keep those opinions, that's their prerogative¹⁵. But I know that people have had their minds changed by books about refugees for kids.

AMOS: He was invited to speak in more than a hundred schools last year. He'll be in a hundred more in the next school year. Deborah Amos, NPR News.

(SOUNDBITE OF TRISTAN DE LIEGE'S "SHE CHANGES")

1 genre   

n.(文学、艺术等的)类型，体裁，风格

参考例句：

• My favorite music genre is blues.我最喜欢的音乐种类是布鲁斯音乐。
• Superficially,this Shakespeare's work seems to fit into the same genre.从表面上看， 莎士比亚的这个剧本似乎属于同一类型。

2 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

3 robin   

n.知更鸟，红襟鸟

参考例句：

• The robin is the messenger of spring.知更鸟是报春的使者。
• We knew spring was coming as we had seen a robin.我们看见了一只知更鸟，知道春天要到了。

4 trauma   

n.外伤，精神创伤

参考例句：

• Counselling is helping him work through this trauma.心理辅导正帮助他面对痛苦。
• The phobia may have its root in a childhood trauma.恐惧症可能源于童年时期的创伤。

5 portray   

v.描写，描述；画(人物、景象等)

参考例句：

• It is difficult to portray feelings in words.感情很难用言语来描写。
• Can you portray the best and worst aspects of this job?您能描述一下这份工作最好与最坏的方面吗？

6 treacherous   

adj.不可靠的，有暗藏的危险的；adj.背叛的，背信弃义的

参考例句：

• The surface water made the road treacherous for drivers.路面的积水对驾车者构成危险。
• The frozen snow was treacherous to walk on.在冻雪上行走有潜在危险。

7 bigotry   

n.偏见，偏执，持偏见的行为[态度]等

参考例句：

• She tried to dissociate herself from the bigotry in her past.她力图使自己摆脱她以前的偏见。
• At least we can proceed in this matter without bigotry.目前这件事咱们至少可以毫无偏见地进行下去。

8 marketing   

n.行销，在市场的买卖，买东西

参考例句：

• They are developing marketing network.他们正在发展销售网络。
• He often goes marketing.他经常去市场做生意。

9 civilians   

平民，百姓( civilian的名词复数 )； 老百姓

参考例句：

• the bloody massacre of innocent civilians 对无辜平民的血腥屠杀
• At least 300 civilians are unaccounted for after the bombing raids. 遭轰炸袭击之后，至少有300名平民下落不明。

10 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

11 excerpt   

n.摘录，选录，节录

参考例句：

• This is an excerpt from a novel.这是一部小说的摘录。
• Can you excerpt something from the newspaper? 你能从报纸上选录些东西吗？

12 Nazi   

n.纳粹分子，adj.纳粹党的，纳粹的

参考例句：

• They declare the Nazi regime overthrown and sue for peace.他们宣布纳粹政权已被推翻，并出面求和。
• Nazi closes those war criminals inside their concentration camp.纳粹把那些战犯关在他们的集中营里。

13 exodus   

v.大批离去，成群外出

参考例句：

• The medical system is facing collapse because of an exodus of doctors.由于医生大批离去，医疗系统面临崩溃。
• Man's great challenge at this moment is to prevent his exodus from this planet.人在当前所遇到的最大挑战，就是要防止人从这个星球上消失。

14 skeptical   

adj.怀疑的，多疑的

参考例句：

• Others here are more skeptical about the chances for justice being done.这里的其他人更为怀疑正义能否得到伸张。
• Her look was skeptical and resigned.她的表情是将信将疑而又无可奈何。

15 prerogative   

n.特权

参考例句：

• It is within his prerogative to do so.他是有权这样做的。
• Making such decisions is not the sole prerogative of managers.作这类决定并不是管理者的专有特权。