Swirly by Sara Saunders, Illus. by Matthew Pierce (2012)

It’s not often that I finish a book thinking, “Boy, I wish I had written that!” but this is definitely one of those times.

My wife is “a foreigner” and I’m your average Wisconsin boy, a Packer fan to the core. Our kids are definitely Third-Culture Kids (TCKs), holding American passports but living overseas more often than not. They’re 6 and 8, and they haven’t lived in the States long enough (yet) to have felt the swirls described in this book, but those swirls are definitely present.

This story follows Lila, a girl born Blue in the Blue Country to Blue parents who suddenly finds herself taken to the Yellow Country. Although she grows up Blue, she also grows up Yellow: a swirl of colors. This sounds great and all, but what she soon realizes is that the Yellows only see her as Blue, and the Blues only see her as Yellow! How can a swirly girl like her ever fit in? What hope does she have of ever belonging?

The answer comes after Lila moves yet again to the Red Country and meets a friend and even an adult who are just like her, and yet…not. TCKs of a different swirl teach her about the greatest TCK of all time, Jesus Christ, Who left His heavenly home to live in another world, a child who was rushed to different lands before He was even a teen!

This book is an amazing word-picture created by a missionary kid for kids, missionaries and non-, who grow up as TCKs whether they’ve themselves chosen to or not. I know for certain that discussions of “swirls” will become a constant in our own home, especially as the difficulties of not fitting in become more strongly felt. Saunders and Pierce have done an amazing service to the TCKs of the world, and for this, my family will be ever grateful.

©2019 E.T.