Donkeys can't fly on planes

Children don't usually get to write the history books and they are often invisible in our records of the past. When teaching a history topic such as migration, which almost inevitably involves children, it's not always easy to find resources that feature children. Yet it matters what types of sources we use to learn and teach about the past. The primary sources that we access and understand will determine many things, including what types of questions we can ask about the past, what types of knowledge we create and value, and ultimately what type of history we choose to tell. Three books, written by children and adults in Australia with South Sudanese refugee heritage, provide insights into how children, who were or are refugees, have represented themselves. In these books, personal and family experiences of forced movement over recent generations are recorded and shared. The books are Donkeys Can't Fly on Planes (2012), In My Kingdom (2014) and All the Way Home (2015), all published by Kids' Own Publishing, a not-for-profit community publisher of stories by children for children. [Author abstract]