Gervelie’s Journey - A Refugee diary

Themes: Factual text, Family, Health and life skills, Identity, Intercultural competence, Language work, Refugees, War and peace 

Connections to the Curriculum in English: This diary of a refugee contributes to developing the understanding of refugees’ background and provide new perspectives on other peoples’ way of life. It can also help refugees to share their experiences with others.  Furthermore, it can serve as a model text for writing a diary.  

Book coverAuthor and publisher: Anthony Robinson & Annemarie Young, Frances Lincoln Children’s Books

Summary: This book tells the story of Gervelie who was born in the Republic of Congo. When trouble breaks out in her home town, she and her family have to leave very quickly. Her father goes to the Ivory Coast and her mother marries a police commander, but her stepfather is not kind to Gervelie. Gervelie is sent to live with her father. After some time, they leave Africa and travel to an unknown country with illegal papers. After some time, they move on and settle down in England. Slowly, life becomes better, but Gervelie misses her mother a lot. This book is based on a true story and it contains a combination of photographs of Gervelie‘s family and water colour illustrations.

  Suitable for students in years: 8-10 

Tags: Factual text, Family, Health and life skills, Identity, Intercultural competence, Language work, Refugees, War and peace
Published Feb. 12, 2022 9:00 AM - Last modified Sep. 20, 2022 2:33 PM