In the new country they must learn to speak a new language, find a new home and Azzi must start a new school.

This book would help American children understand the perspective of some refugee children coming to our schools and might help those refugees feel that they're not alone. Told through the eyes of children, this moving collection of short stories focuses on the experiences of asylum seekers from all over the world. It also has strong themes of family which makes the book even more moving when Grandma is left behind before she comes to England. It is so important for each child to be accepting of everyone else and to understand the different journeys each person may have been through to get where they are today. This follows the story with more detail then 'The Journey' and would be more usual to share with a class.Illustrated throughout, this heartfelt story contains so much: a family coping with bereavement, the alienation of moving somewhere new, and what it’s like when you can’t speak the language of the people around you. From the perspective of a little girl (age not determined but early primary school), it paints a picture of what it was like for one so innocent, just having fun as kids do but watching the soldiers and listening to helicopters and guns, then the escape. It offers many discussion points in PSHE; drama and writing opportunities in Literacy; and learning about plants in Science. The reader must only feel joy when Azzi begins life at her new school and is reunited with Grandma, as a happy family. The tapestry of themes around inclusion, helping others, family love, starting anew in a foreign country are wonderfully depicted.

War is in their country, the children often see loud helicopter gunships flying by and soldiers marching on their street. Telling the story of real-life issues that many young people go through all over the world- living through war, having to flee, moving to a country where they do not speak the language. I was really impressed with this book--it showed just enough of the child's view on war and on being a refugee to make the reader anxious and afraid, but not so much that it would overwhelm or trigger a kid. Beautifully illustrated, it conveys perfectly Azzi's feelings of loss and displacement in an absorbing, and ultimately uplifting, adventure story.It's not just about a perilous journey to a new country, but also her struggles with a new language and culture. Drawing on her own experience of working among refugee families, Sarah Garland has created a story which will strike a chord with many who have undergone similar ordeals. The story would need to be approached in a sensitive manner, and may need to be explained further, but would be brilliant to use in the classroom.

The winner of 2013's Little Rebels prize for radical children's book, this graphic novel tells the story of Azzi and her family who leave their war-torn country, and manage a difficult and dangerous journey to safety. Azzi In Between is an excellent cross-curricular resource that looks at asylum, war, separation and integration and what it is to be a refugee today. So she works hard and plants surprise beans for her father, all the while wishing that her grandmother was there. When Azzi and her parents have to flee their home because the country is at war, Azzi leaves behind everything she knows and loves, most importantly her grandmother.

I'd recommend this book to share with Y2 upwards, particularly in PHSE lessons, and it would be a good resource for Refugee Week.

The graphic novel-style picture book is heartbreaking but something children need to recognise as normal in some people's lives, even pupils in their own class. This picture book, written and illustrated in frames, as a graphic novel would be, tells the story of Azzi, a refugee from an unspecified* middle-eastern country to a western country. My children loved the story, found it exciting and interesting and have a much better understanding now of the experience of refugees. I also love how through the illustrations danger, fear and sadness is symbolised through dark colours. To me, it was the barrier created by Azzi's internal worries about her father's emotional well being, and the whereabouts of her absent grandmother, that resulted in her settling in a space between security and insecurity.The text is so rich and would be brilliant to use in KS2 classrooms where it could be explored and enjoyed to its full potential. Azzi In Between first came to my attention following it winning the inaugural Little Rebels Children’s Book Award .