Our library in Hewett Centre is open every Sunday after service during Coffee Hour in Hewett Centre, and our Library Team offers related reading lists based on the topic of Sunday service. Here is their list for the upcoming service featuring Rev. Shawn Gauthier on Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024 at 11 a.m. All welcome in Hewett Centre after Sunday service to check out some books and to have coffee and conversation.
VanU library books related to this Sunday’s sermon:
1. Refugee Sandwich: Stories of Exile and Asylum, by Peter Showler, 2006, 325.21 SHO [Gift of Anne Stuart and Roberta Kirby of the UCV Refugee Committee. From LibraryThing: “Although more than thirty thousand refugee claims are decided in Canada every year, the personal stories behind them are never heard by the Canadian public. Presenting thirteen stories that tell about Canada’s refugee system, this book exposes the dilemmas and choices faced by participants in the refugee determination process.”].
2. A Bed of Red Flowers: In Search of My Afghanistan, by Nelofer Pazira, 2006, 958.10 PAZ [Gift of the Refugee Committee. From LibraryThing: “… Written with compassion, intelligence, and insight, A Bed of Red Flowers is a profoundly moving portrait of life under occupation and the unforgettable story of a family, a people and a country. “The picnic of the red flower” is a traditional time of celebration for Afghans. One of Nelofer Pazira’s earliest memories is of people gathering in the countryside to admire the tulips and poppies carpeting the landscape. It is the mid-1970s, and her parents are building a future for themselves and their young children in the city of Kabul. But when Nelofer is just five the Communists take power and her father, a respected doctor, is imprisoned along with thousands of other Afghans. The following year, the Russians invade Afghanistan, which becomes a police state and the center of a bloody conflict between the Soviet army and American-backed mujahidin fighters. A climate of violence and fear reigns. For Nelofer, there is no choice but to grow up fast. At eleven, she and her friends throw stones at the Russian tanks that stir up dust and animosity in the streets of Kabul. As a teenager she joins a resistance group, hiding her gun from her parents. Her emotional refuge is her friendship with her classmate Dyana, with whom she shares a passion for poetry, dreams and a better life. After a decade of war, Nelofer’s family escapes across the mountains to Pakistan and later to Canada, where she continues to write to Dyana. When her friend suddenly stops writing, Nelofer fears for Dyana’s life. With lyrical, narrative prose, A Bed of Red Flowers movingly tells Pazira’s haunting story, as well as Afghanistan’s story as a nation.”].
3. From Bombs to Books: The remarkable stories of refugee children and their families at an exceptional Canadian school, by David Starr, 2011, 371.82 STA [Gift of Ann Foster. From LibraryThing: “As Canada welcomes tens of thousands of Syrian refugees, as well as many others finding their way in Canada, communities across the country are dealing with the challenges of welcoming and integrating them. This is a book about how schools can play a powerful and positive role in the day-to-day lives of refugee families. David Starr has served as the principal at two schools in BC where a majority of the student population comes from refugee families. While the students at Edmonds Community and Byrne Creek Community schools in Burnaby, BC, come from all over the world, many are recent arrivals from Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and Sudan. In this book, David Starr shares the deeply moving stories of his students, their parents and the staff at Edmonds. He describes the upheavals that many of these families have undergone. He writes about how teachers and other support workers have embraced their students and gone about making a difference in their lives. And he tells the stories of students and their views of their experiences in their countries of origin, as well as at their new schools and in their new communities. First published in 2011, this book will strike a chord today in many cities and towns across Canada. This new edition provides the perspective of five years’ experience for the young people it profiles, with updates on the recent experiences of many. And David Starr offers observations on how teachers, principals, support groups and others can contribute to the process of integrating refugee families into Canadian society, and the many lessons he and his colleagues have learned from their experiences.”].
4. Infidel, by Ayaan Hirsi Ali, 2007, 921 HIR [From LibraryThing: “One of today’s most admired and controversial political figures, Ayaan Hirsi Ali burst into international headlines following the murder of Theo van Gogh by an Islamist who threatened that she would be next. She made headlines again when she was stripped of her citizenship and resigned from the Dutch Parliament.
Infidel shows the coming of age of this distinguished political superstar and champion of free speech as well as the development of her beliefs, iron will, and extraordinary determination to fight injustice. Raised in a strict Muslim family, Hirsi Ali survived civil war, female mutilation, brutal beatings, adolescence as a devout believer during the rise of the Muslim Brotherhood, and life in four troubled, unstable countries ruled largely by despots. She escaped from a forced marriage and sought asylum in the Netherlands, where she earned a college degree in political science, tried to help her tragically depressed sister adjust to the West, and fought for the rights of Muslim women and the reform of Islam as a member of Parliament. Under constant threat, demonized by reactionary Islamists and politicians, disowned by her father, and expelled from family and clan, she refuses to be silenced.
Ultimately a celebration of triumph over adversity, Hirsi Ali’s story tells how a bright little girl evolves out of dutiful obedience to become an outspoken, pioneering freedom fighter. As Western governments struggle to balance democratic ideals with religious pressures, no other book could be more timely or more significant.”].
5. The USC Story: A Quarter Century of Loving Service by the Unitarian Service Committee of Canada in Europe, the Middle east and Asia 1945-1970, by Lotta Hitschmanova, 1970, 288 UN [By the Unitarian Service Committee of Canada. From Lotta Hitschmanova and the Middle East: “From the 1940s to the 1970s, Lotta Hitschmanova was perhaps the most famous Canadian woman. And yet, few today are aware of her personal story — that she was a Jewish refugee to Canada who in turn spent decades helping Palestinian refugees in Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon and Syria.”].
6. None is Too Many: Canada and the Jews of Europe, 1933-1948, by Irving M Abella, 1982, 940.53 ABE [Gift of Barbara Taylor. From LibraryThing: “Today, we think of Canada as a compassionate, open country to which refugees from other countries have always been welcome. However, between the years 1933 and 1948, when the Jews of Europe were looking for a place of refuge from Nazi persecution, Canada refused to offer aid, let alone sanctuary, to those in fear for their lives. Rigorously documented and brilliantly researched, None Is Too Many tells the story of Canada’s response to the plight of European Jews during the Nazi era and its immediate aftermath, exploring why and how Canada turned its back and hardened its heart against the entry of Jewish refugees. Recounting a shameful period in Canadian history, Irving Abella and Harold Troper trace the origins and results of Canadian immigration policies towards Jews and conclusively demonstrate that the forces against admitting them were pervasive and rooted in antisemitism. First published in 1983, None Is Too Many has become one of the most significant books ever published in Canada. This fortieth anniversary edition celebrates the book’s ongoing impact on public discourse, generating debate on ethics and morality in government, the workings of Canadian immigration and refugee policy, the responsibility of bystanders, righting historical wrongs, and the historian as witness. Above all, the reader is asked: “What kind of Canada do we want to be?” This new anniversary edition features a foreword by Richard Menkis on the impact the book made when it was first published and an afterword by David Koffman explaining why the book remains critical today.”].
7. Do Not Say We Have Nothing, by Madeleine Thien, 2016, FIC THI [From Wikipedia: “Do Not Say We Have Nothing is a novel by Madeleine Thien published in 2016 in Canada.[1] It follows a 10-year-old girl and her mother who invite a Chinese refugee into their home.[2] Critically acclaimed, in 2016 the author was awarded both the Scotiabank Giller Prize and the Governor General’s Award for this novel. It was short-listed for the Man Booker Prize as well as the Women’s Prize for Fiction.”].