Welcome to Litsy!

When looking for books for #FoodAndLit for Botswana this month, I came across this graphic novel. Once I started reading, I realized it has nothing to do with Botswana at all, but is a graphic novel about 2 Somalian boys who live in a refugee camp in Kenya. A happy mistake I guess because it‘s a true story about the struggles of growing up in a refugee camp & the longing to escape to a better life in another country. Heartbreaking & well done.5⭐️

Time spent reading yesterday: 7 hours = 70 points x‘s 7 for 6 readathons = 490 points.

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As with many of the books we‘ve read so far, I have really enjoyed the authors‘ portrayal of characters‘ lives and circumstances. For example, in this book, the illustrations and dialogue helped the reader infer that Jeri‘s father was abusive. This, along with many other books we‘ve read, can be really helpful when teaching and discussing inferences.

Throughout the book, we can see Omar‘s heart of empathy. His emotions are incredibly shown- anger, sadness, frustration, joy, and longing. Mohamed and Jamieson do a great job at portraying these emotions. Omar is probably one of my favorite characters I‘ve ever read about.

The description of Omar being what I would describe as depressed after his interview is very interesting. I think the authors do a great job of describing this feeling in a way that readers who haven't felt this way before would be able to relate to. I think they do a great job of using language that middle schoolers could absorb/understand.

I felt bad for Omar when he found out he was on the resettlement list. I cannot imagine the amount of pressure he was under. He is just a child, but he was the person having to complete the interview and care for his special needs brother. He also describes how he was becoming retraumatized trying to remember everything that happened in his hometown. That is just a lot of pressure for anyone, especially a child.

On page 37 Omar talks about how “...the star makes [him] feel safe, like [his] mom and dad are nearby“ which made me think about the title of the book and if the authors are foreshadowing. If the stars represent his family, I think the book will probably be about getting separated from his family.

I really liked how the authors framed the first couple of pages of the book. I thought it was interesting how they not only introduced Hassan and Omar but also demonstrated some of their dynamic before letting the readers know Hassan has a disability. I feel like it was extremely intentional to show the readers that they still had “typical“ sibling interactions before sharing information about Hassan's disability.

If anyone in interested in another graphic novel about a boy's experience in a refugee camp, I highly recommend checking out Baddawi by Leila Abdelrazaq. It tells the story of Ahmad, a Palestinian refugee who, along with thousands of other Palestinians, was forced out of his home due to conflicts in the mid 1900s in their homeland. Both stories portray the lives of growing boys as they navigate their uncertain circumstances as refugees.

This was an amazing story! Omar and Hassan's childhood may look a lot different from a lot of young readers' lives, and I think that's the beauty of turning this story into a children's graphic novel; kids can read about Omar and Hassan's story--can look through all of the colorful drawings of the boys' lives--and get a better understanding of the world around them. I can't wait to recommend this novel to readers both young and old.