Resources

Here is a comprehensive list of books and online resources on the following topics: Third Culture Kids, expats and accompanying spouses, bilingualism and language, understanding cultural differences, asylum seekers and refugees, immigration in general, and Sweden.

Third Culture Kids (TCKs) and Cross-Cultural Kids

To read more about what a Third Culture Kid is, read my article here. I’ve also written about where home is when you have moved frequently, and on rootlessness, or having itchy feet.

Books

• Third Culture Kids: Growing Up Among Worlds, Revised Edition by David Pollock and Ruth van Reken
• Raising Global Nomads: Parenting Abroad in an On-Demand World by Robin Pascoe
• Unrooted Childhoods: Memoirs of Growing Up Global by Faith Eidse and Nina Sichel (eds.)
• Home Keeps Moving by Heidi Sand-Hart
• The End of Belonging: Untold stories of leaving home and the psychology of global relocation by Greg A Madison

Websites

• TCK World: the official website of Third Culture Kids by Ruth van Reken
• TCKid: a place for Third Culture Kids to share stories and meet friends
• Drei Culturen: An excellent blog about all things TCK
• In Culture Parent: for parents raising global citizens
• Denizen Magazine: For Third Culture Kids

Expats and Accompanying Spouses

I’ve written here about my experiences as an accompanying spouse.

Books

• A Career in Your Suitcase – A Practical Guide to Creating Meaningful Work… Anywhere
• A Portable Identity: A Woman’s Guide to Maintaining a Sense of Self While Moving Overseas by Debra R. Bryson
• A Broad Abroad: The Expat Wife’s Guide to Successful Living Abroad by Robin Pascoe

Books about life overseas

• Diplomatic Baggage: The Adventures of a Trailing Spouse by Brigid Keenan
• A Country in the Moon: Travels in Search of the Heart of Poland by Michael Moran
• Swiss Watching: Inside the Land of Milk and Money by Diccon Bewes
• Expat: Women’s True Tales of Life Abroad by Christina Henry De Tessan

Websites

• A list of English news providers in Europe.
• HSBC expat explorer: filled with country specific information. I find the country experience section particularly useful with information on language, making local friends, healthcare, and so on.
• Expat Blog: expat blogs from all around the world – I have lost hours of my life browsing these pages.
• Expat women: resources, blogs, interviews, articles and guides written by and for expat women.

Bilingualism and Language

Books

• Raising a Bilingual Child (Living Language Series) by Barbara Zurer Pearson, Ph.D.
• A Parents’ & Teachers’ Guide To Bilingualism: Third Edition (Parents’ and Teachers’ Guides) by Colin Baker
• Language Strategies For Bilingual Family: The one-parent-one-language Approach (Parents’ and Teachers’ Guides) by Suzanne Barron-Hauwaert
• Growing Up with Two Languages: A Practical Guide for the Bilingual Family by Una Cunningham

• Empires of the Word: A Language History of the World by Nicholas Ostler
• Through the Language Glass: Why the World Looks Different in Other Languages by Guy Deutscher
• Is That a Fish in Your Ear?: Translation and the Meaning of Everything by David Bellos
• The Untranslatables: The Most Intriguing Words from Around the World by C. J Moore

Websites

• On raising bilingual children: an excellent website written by a Canadian ESL and bilingualism professional in the Netherlands.

Understanding Cultural Differences

Books

• Cultures and Organizations: Software of the Mind, Third Edition by Geert Hofstede, Gert Jan Hofstede and Michael Minkov

Asylum Seekers and Refugees

Books

• Human Cargo: A Journey Among Refugees by Caroline Moorehead. I can’t recommend this book highly enough for anyone with an interest in asylum seekers and refugees.

Immigration in General

Books

• The Age of Migration, Fourth Edition: International Population Movements in the Modern World by Stephen Castles.
• Exceptional People: How Migration Shaped Our World and Will Define Our Future by Ian Goldin

Websites

• The European Migration Network has detailed annual reports for changes in migration policy by European country. Release dates are around April the following year.
• The Migration Integration Policy Index (MIPEX) – a tool to compare and improve integration policy.

Sweden

Read my articles about finding an apartment in Stockholm, learning Swedish online or in Sweden (and a review of SFEJ).

Books

• Fishing in Utopia: Sweden and the Future that Disappeared by Andrew Brown. A beautifully written book by a British journalist who lived in Sweden during the 70s, and his observations of the country then and now.
• The Rough Guide to Sweden
• Cultureshock! Sweden (Cultureshock Sweden: A Survival Guide to Customs & Etiquette)

Websites

• Your living city: an English language guide to life in Stockholm
• Tourism Sweden: the official tourism website for Sweden with events, travel information, accommodation recommendations, regional information and things to do.
• Migration information (in Swedish)