Behind Sami, the Syrian skyline is full of smoke. The boy follows his family and all his neighbors in a long line, as they trudge through the sands and hills to escape the bombs that have destroyed their homes. But all Sami can think of is his pet pigeons–will they escape too?
This book has been included in WOW’s Kids Taking Action Booklist. For our current list, visit our Boolist page under Resources in the green navigation bar.
Featured in WOW Review Volume IX, Issue 4.
“I look at the sky, and I close my eyes, and my imagination begins to fly… The sky can be full of kites, I think, but also full of dreams. And my dream flies high, high up towards the stars. I’m a little Afghan girl who doesn’t stop dreaming. And my dream flies towards all of the regions, entering houses, in homes, in families, and in hearts. A little girl, a dream, a song for peace.”
George Washington was one of the greatest leaders the world has ever known. He was never afraid to be the first to try something, from exploring the woods around his childhood home to founding a brand new nation, the United States of America. With his faith in the American people and tremendous bravery, he helped win the Revolutionary War and became the country’s first president. Each picture book in this series is a biography of a significant historical figure, told in a simple, conversational, vivacious way, and always focusing on a character trait that makes the person a role model for kids. The heroes are depicted as children throughout, telling their life stories in first-person present tense, which keeps the books playful and accessible to young children. And each book ends with a line of encouragement, a direct quote, photos, a timeline, and a source list.
With haunting echoes of the current refugee crisis this beautifully illustrated book explores the unimaginable decisions made as a family leave their home and everything they know to escape the turmoil and tragedy brought by war.
Featured in WOW Review Volume IX, Issue 4.
Stepping Stones tells the story of Rama and her family, who are forced to flee their once-peaceful village to escape the ravages of the civil war raging ever closer to their home. With only what they can carry on their backs, Rama and her mother, father, grandfather and brother, Sami, set out to walk to freedom in Europe.
Featured in WOW Review Volume IX, Issue 3.
Stepping Stones is a WOW Recommends: Book of the Month for July 2017.
Baddawi is the story of a young boy named Ahmad struggling to find his place in the world. It explores the childhood of the author’s father from a determinedly boy’s-eye view. Ahmed was raised in the refugee camp of Baddawi in northern Lebanon, one of many thousands of children born to Palestinians who fled (or were expelled from) their homeland during the 1948 war that established the state of Israel. Ahmad’s dogged pursuit of education and opportunity echoes the journey of the Palestinian people, as they make the best of their existing circumstances while remaining determined to one day return to their homeland.
Featured in WOW Review Volume IX, Issue 1.
When the downtrodden Noor rebel in the West, Wen, overhearing a plan to crush the Noor with powerful war machines, leaves the ghostly Bo, now a boy determined to transform himself into a living machine, and journeys into the war zone to warn the Noor, and her great love, Melik.
Ali and his fiancée Zeynep dream about leaving their home in Anatolia and building a new life together in Canada. But their homeland is controlled by the Turkish government, which is on the brink of war with Britain and Russia. And although Ali finds passage to Canada to work, he is forced to leave Zeynep behind until he can earn enough to bring her out to join him. When the First World War breaks out and Canada joins Britain, Ali is declared an enemy alien.
Join the discussion of Dance of the Banished as well as other books centered around relocation on our My Take/Your Take page.
See the review at WOW Review, Volume 8, Issue 2
After nine years of war between the Greeks and Trojans, tensions are heating up among men of the same faction as well as those on opposing sides. Two proud and powerful Greeks, King Agamemnon and legendary warrior Achilles, quarrel over a beautiful maiden, causing Achilles and his myrmidons to drop out of the fight. Meanwhile, fueled by rage and pride, honor and greed, soldiers on both sides—-Odysseus and Patroclus for the Greeks, Paris and Hector for the Trojans-—perform heroic deeds, attempting to end the war.
It is wartime. In the midst of the fighting and devastation, an unusual friendship is formed.