Global Baby

An informative book filled with tips on raising a baby while traveling and living outside of your home country.

Global Baby, by Anne Copeland (2004). Brookline, MA: The Interchange Institute.

Unrooted Childhoods: Memoirs of Growing up Global

Great stories by adult Third Culture Kids from various sectors. I love reading their stories! The Third Culture Kids whose memoirs are given come from all walks of life.

Unrooted Childhoods: Memoirs of Growing up Global, edited by Faith Eidse and Nina Sichel (2004). Yarmouth, ME: Intercultural Press

The Global Soul: Jet Lag, Shopping Malls, and the Search for Home

Iyer is a master storyteller of his life growing up in many countries. He continues to travel the world in his profession as a journalist. You will find yourself underlining his many, wonderful insights into how to feel at home in a rapidly changing world.

The Global Soul: Jet Lag, Shopping Malls, and the Search for Home, by Pico Iyer (2000). New York: Vintage Books.

Notes from a Traveling Childhood: Readings for International Mobile Parents and Children

Arrivals, Departures and the Adventures In-Between

Notes from a Traveling Childhood: Readings for International Mobile Parents and Children, edited by Karen Curnow McCluskey (1994). Washington, DC: Foreign Youth Service Foundation.

This is a book of adventures to help identify some of those challenges and use some of those skills in your own life - which is important because you've got more to contribute to the world than you realize.

Arrivals, Departures and the Adventures In-Between, by Chris O’Shaughnessy (2014). Summertime Publishing.

Global Member Care: The Pearls and Perils of Living Abroad (Volume One)

This is a valuable book for those who work in the missions community. Kelly is a pioneer in the area of member care and a psychologist who understands how to cross sectors in order to help the family thrive and made the cross cultural adjustments.
Global Member Care: The Pearls and Perils of Living Abroad (Volume One)  by Kelly O’Donnell.

Safe Passages: How Mobility affects People and What International Schools Should Do About It

Doug is a psychologist who spent many years working in an International School in the Netherlands. This book is a result of his research and work with Third Culture Kids over the years. It is also a great resource for counselors who use Attachment Theory in their work with TCKs.

Safe Passages: How Mobility affects People and What International Schools Should do about it, by Douglas W. Ota.

Homeward Bound: A Spouse’s Guide to Repatriation

Of all of the books out there on repatriation back to your home country, this one ranks far above similar books. Robin’s humor and practical tips on how to make that adjustment keeps one engaged in her writing. She lets the reader catch a glimpse of what she went through as she floundered through repatriation into adjustment to her home country of Canada.

Homeward Bound: A Spouse’s Guide to Repatriation by Robin Pascoe.

Raising Global Nomads: Parenting Abroad in an On-Demand World

Robin’s book is filled with practical advice to parents on how to raise a child while traveling the world. I was privileged to write a chapter in this valuable resource for parents. Robin is the mother of two children and has been known over the years as the expat expert. You will profit by reading this book. Her humor makes the book an easy read.

Raising Global Nomads: Parenting Abroad in an On-Demand World, by Robin Pascoe (2006). Vancouver, Canada: Expatriate Press.

Expat Teens Talk: Peers, Parents and Professionals Offer Support, Advice and Solutions in Response to Expat Life Challenges as Shared by Expat Teens

There are few good books out there for expatriate teenagers.  This one is at the top of my list. It has wonderful discussion questions, suggestions and stories for teenagers and those who support them in the their many moves.

Expat Teens Talk: Peers, Parents and Professionals Offer Support, Advice and Solutions in Response to Expat Life Challenges as Shared by Expat Teens, by Lisa Pittman and Diana Smit (2012). Great Britain: Summertime.

Third Culture Kids: Growing Up among Worlds
 

This is the “bible” when it comes to the literature on Third Culture Kids.  It is the first book you should read, and the most important one, before you launch into the other literature. It gives you a vocabulary and a foundation upon which you can build as you read the other resources listed. If you can only afford one book, this is the one you need.

Third Culture Kids: Growing Up among Worlds, by David C. Pollack, Ruth E. Van Reken and Michael V. Pollack. (3rd Edition) 2017, Boston: Nicholas Brealey.

Living Elsewhere: Because a Life Overseas can be Tough, and, well sometimes you just have to laugh

The Global Nomad’s Guide to University Transition

Australian Cath Brew has travelled abroad for most of her life and though now settled in the UK, she has learned to cope with her own challenging emotions by drawing. In this delightful book she shares 100 cartoons of her life and the lives of others, which have helped her to see the funny side of a weird and wonderful life on the move.

Living Elsewhere: Because a Life Overseas can be Tough, and, well sometimes you just have to laugh, by Cath Brew (2018). Springtime Publishing.

This is a great book to give to that high school student that is making that transition back into their home culture in order to attend university. Tina offers all types of practical advice on how to make that physical and emotional transition without too many bumps. It also helps Mom and Dad in understanding their child.

The Global Nomad’s Guide to University Transition, by Tina Quick (2022).

Emotional Resilience and the Expat Child: Practical Storytelling Techniques That Will Strengthen the Global Family

Julia understands the life of the Third Culture Kid as she is the mother of two children. Her book is filled with very understandable examples of how to help your children grow in emotional intelligence and express their emotions effectively as they experience various cultures. I have recommended it to many parents and they state it was most beneficial to them.

Emotional Resilience and the Expat Child: Practical Storytelling Techniques That Will Strengthen the Global Family by Julia Simens.

Letters Never Sent: A Global Nomad’s Journey from Hurt to Healing

Ruth shares the many emotions she encountered as struggled to figure out just who she was and where she belonged as a missionary kid growing up in Africa. This book is a look into her personal diary as she sorted through all of these emotions towards healing as a young adult.

Letters Never Sent: A Global Nomad’s Journey from Hurt to Healing, by Ruth Van Reken (2012). Great Britain: Summertime.

Military Brats: Legacies of Childhood inside the Fortress

Misunderstood: The Impact of Growing Up Overseas in the 21st Century

The Grief Tower: A Practical Guide to Processing Grief with Third Culture Kids

World’s Apart: A Third Culture Kids Journey

This is one of the first books on the market on those TCKs who grow up in the military sector. You will gain insight into the world of the military and how it impacts the child.
Military Brats: Legacies of Childhood inside the Fortress, by Mary Edwards Wertsch (1991). Bayside, NY: Aletheia.

Over 200 million people currently live abroad; more than 50 million are temporary residents, intending to return to their country of origin. Misunderstood explores the impact international life can have on the children of such families - while they live overseas, when they return, and as they mature into adults.

Misunderstood: The Impact of Growing Up Overseas in the 21st Century, by Tanya Crossman (2016). Summertime Publishing.

Children who grow up outside of their parent’s passport country, Third Culture Kids (TCKs), experience a significant number of losses, grief-inducing experiences, and traumas during their developmental years. These events stack up like blocks on a tower throughout the life of the TCK, creating what Lauren Wells has coined the Grief Tower.

The Grief Tower: A Practical Guide to Processing Grief with Third Culture Kids, by Lauren Wells (2021). Kindle Edition.

Gardner weaves together memories of joy and pain, close friendships and loneliness in a compelling portrait of an international childhood. From the close quarters of boarding school, to the strangeness of furloughs in her parents’ native Massachusetts, Worlds Apart is an honest and moving portrayal of a young girl’s struggles with faith, friendship, and belonging.

World’s Apart: A Third Culture Kids Journey, by Marilyn R. Gardner (2018). Doorlight Publications.

Slurping Soup and Other Confusions

Slurping Soup and Other Confusions by Tonges, Menezes, Gemmer Emigh. (2013). Summertime Publishing.

B at Home: Emma Moves Again

B at Home: Emma Moves Again by Valerie Besanceney (2014). United Kingdom, Summertime Publishing.

When Abroad Do as the Local Children Do

When Abroad Do as the Local Children Do, by Hilly Van Swol-Ulbrich and Bettina Kaltenhauser (2002). The Netherlands: X-Pat Media.

Sammy’s Next Move: Sammy the Snail Is a Traveling Snail Who Lives in Different Countries

Sammy’s Next Move: Sammy the Snail Is a Traveling Snail Who Lives in Different Countries, by Helen Maffini (2011). CreateSpace Independent Publishing. Resources

Reflection Photos by Anne P. Copeland: www.interchangeinstitute.org

Artwork on TCK life by Beth Eisinger: www.thefinetoothedcomb.etsy.com

A.H. Dance Company by Alaine Handa: www.ahdancecompany.com