Making It Home: Real-Life Stories from Children Forced to Flee

by Beverley Naidoo (Introduction)

In this inspiring collection, children living all over the world speak about being forced to flee their homes as refugees. With original, autobiographical accounts, Making It Home gives a poignant voice to the millions of young people whose lives have been disrupted by war but who have escaped. With maps, brief histories of each country, and an eight-page photo insert, this book helps young people understand the world and the children who share the dream of freedom.

Genres: Nonfiction, War

117 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

Beverley Naidoo was born in South Africa on 21 May 1943 and grew up under apartheid. As a student, she began to question the apartheid regime and was later arrested for her actions as part of the resistance movement in South Africa. In 1965 she went into exile, going to England. She married another South African exile; they have two children.

Reviews

[Grace Cole · Rating 2 out of 5]

I pulled this from the shelf of my local library, because it seems a very relevant topic to today. However, it wasn't until I started reading that I realized it was published in 2004. Not that the stories aren't impactful, but more that the book needs updating.

[Julie Suzanne · Rating 2 out of 5]

I feel really guilty saying that this book is just okay, but it just didn't work for me. The author juxtaposes really complicated explanations of the context of a refugee crisis with extremely simple and uninspiring first-hand accounts of refugee children. For example, I'd read this explanation of what was going on in Kosovo or the Congo, and even though it was only 1.5 - 2 pages of context, I'd have to reread it several times to understand it, and still sometimes I didn't quite understand before I gave up. And I'm an (well educated) adult. Won't this be especially hard for middle school kids to comprehend? Massive numbers of casualties (like 3 million) would be the result of these complicated problems, but it's hard to have feelings about a number like 3 million. And going through the book, you see 3 million added to 60,000, added to 2 million, added to 550, 000....it's too much to be able to really process.
Immediately after these confounding statistics and contextual descriptions, you'd read a pretty dull interview like "I really like America. I like Cheetos. My sister doesn't want to eat her vegetables. I think I'd like to visit my home country some day." (This is not a real quote).

Again, I feel tremendous guilt having anything negative to say about refugee children or this noble attempt to raise awareness. It's just....it is likely that I will well up with emotions and tears on any given day--I cry in commercials, I cry when I hear a single measure of beautiful music, you can pretty much say the word "suffer" or "abuse" and I can barely keep it together, so how is it even POSSIBLE that I felt nothing reading this book? I read half, and I don't really feel like I read any of it, but I gave it more than usual effort, even, and I just can't go on with it. I'm sorry! Sorry, sorry, sorry. I hope others will be intensely inspired and effectively educated. I hope it's just me.

[Brooke · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Making it Home" is about all of these children who are living all over the world. It tells stories about their lives and how it has been changing over the years. A lot of them had traveled the world and the other ones have amazing stories to tell. It helps readers understand that we live in a world of freedom. All of the stories are real and are spoken by a child. Some of them had to escape and others were by a war and had family that died so they had to get away.

[SaraJane · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Being a refugee means many things to me. The war broke families apart. The family of the place where you are born is the closest thing that you have in your life. When you leave your country, you still think about the country in your head, and you never forget. You are always back there in your heart. You have a new country, but the old country stays with you." (Page 43)

"Life changes when you are a refugee. If you have to leave your family and your friends, you want to cry. You do cry. You always wish to see them again, but you can't. In your imagination you think about these people a lot and you don't forget them or what happened to make you lose them. Being a refugee means separation from the people and things you love." (Page 45)

"I see others..those who are educated have a good life. This has helped me to stay determined. I want that life when I am older, though I wonder how it will happen in the midst of so much trouble." (Page 102)

[Lana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Children all over the world tell their story of how they were forced to flee their homeland--some are now established in safety, but many are still in refugee camps trying to survive. It is heartbreaking to read their stories--sometimes things like a 4-year old seeing parents killed and being taken in by a neighbor family if they promised not to stay too long! Yet they have hope--and dreams for the future.

I liked the format of the book--it introduced each section with a map and brief overview of the violence that led to many refugees in that area, then a few children from that area told their own story. Great book for ages 10 and up--they may realize that not everyone has things they take for granted--things like a shelter,family,food,safety.