Levy, Michael

About the author: Dr. Michael Levy received his PhD from the University of Minnesota. He is currently professor of English at the University of Wisconsin-Stout where he specializes in Children’s Literature and Science Fiction.

Portrayal of Southeast Asian Refugees in Recent American Children’s Books

2000 0-7734-7753-5
Little has been published on this subject to date, so this work provides scholars and teachers of children’s literature with useful information on the children’s books that discuss Southeast Asians, including Vietnamese, Cambodian, Thai, Lao, Hmong, and Mien. The works fall into three categories with most overlapping to some extent: historical fiction or non-fiction portraying the lives of a specific ethnic group before the advent of the war that is to disrupt the culture; the transition from traditional life to refugee status, usually told from the child’s perspective; life as a refugee in the US (or elsewhere), concentrating on the need to adjust to a strange culture, various forms of post-traumatic stress disorder and depression, and the often bittersweet nostalgia for home.