The Girl Who Was Made of Places

"Where are you from?"For most children, that's an easy question. For Mira, it's the hardest one there is.Mira is nine years old. She was born in Chennai, learned to swim in Muscat, and learned to say dzień dobry in Warsaw. Now she's starting again in Vancouver: new school, new accent, new everything. She can pack a suitcase in nineteen minutes, and she's not sure that's something to be proud of.Then, on her first day, someone asks her the question. And Mira's mouth goes completely empty.The Girl Who Was Made of Places is a warm, hopeful story for children aged 7 to 10 who are growing up across cultures. It's for the children of expat, diplomatic, military and internationally mobile families, and for anyone who has ever had to be the new kid all over again.A story with something a child can actually useMost books about growing up between countries are written for the grown-ups. This one is written for the child, and it hands them a real, five-minute exercise they can do the night they finish reading it. When Mira's dad asks her a different question, not where are you from but what are you made of?, she finds an answer that's hers, and one that no one can take away when the next move comes.Inside this book: - A complete illustrated story for confident readers aged 7 to 10, or to share aloud with younger children- The "Things I Am Made Of" activity, with a blank page for your child to write their own- A gentle model for parents and teachers of what to say, and what not to say, when a child says I'm tired of being new- A hopeful ending in which Mira discovers that the thing that hurt her is the thing that lets her help somebody elseFor third culture kids, and the grown-ups who love themSome children's roots grow straight down. Mira's grow sideways, all the way across the world. Sideways roots hold on just as tight. They just hold on to more.A perfect gift for a child facing a move, starting at a new school, or leaving friends behind.