An absorbing and approachable introduction to the struggles of refugees.
A debut nonfiction picture book focuses on a young refugee and her family.
Nasteha is an Ethiopian girl who tells her Oromo family’s story in this work for elementary school readers. Bigots in her country targeted the Oromo. As Beardsley writes in Nasteha’s voice: “When the Oromo people were in danger of being killed, my mother and father fled Ethiopia.” This happened before Nasteha was born. The family moved to the Dadaab Refugee Camp in Kenya, but only Nasteha’s siblings and pregnant mother were allowed to stay because her father did not have the right paperwork. The camp was a dangerous place, without enough food or water to go around. Eventually, the girl’s family was approved to move to Canada. But when Nasteha was born at the medical facility, she was not on the list to travel with her family. Her mother left her behind with an aunt, and finally, Nasteha was brought to Canada to be reunited with her loved ones. Beardsley’s recounting of these events, using Nasteha’s voice, makes the girl’s story feel relatable and urgent. The technique allows the author to gloss over some of the scarier aspects of the account, making the difficulties evident to young readers without terrifying them. The narrative invites readers to identify with Nasteha and to see the problems faced by refugees. Wood’s photographs of Nasteha and her family make up most of the images. A short, useful glossary defines unfamiliar terms.
An absorbing and approachable introduction to the struggles of refugees.Pub Date: April 22, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-5255-6679-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: FriesenPress
Review Posted Online: Aug. 31, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Enthusiastic and direct, this paean has a lovely ring to it.
Former National Youth Poet Laureate Gorman invites girls to raise their voices and make a difference.
“Today, we finally have a say,” proclaims the first-person plural narration as three girls (one presents Black, another is brown-skinned, and the third is light-skinned) pass one another marshmallows on a stick around a campfire. In Wise’s textured, almost three-dimensional illustrations, the trio traverse fantastical, often abstract landscapes, playing, demonstrating, eating, and even flying, while confident rhymes sing their praises and celebrate collective female victories. The phrase “LIBERATION. FREEDOM. RESPECT” appears on a protest sign that bookends their journey. Simple and accessible, the rhythmic visual storytelling presents an optimistic vision of young people working toward a better world. Sometimes family members or other diverse comrades surround the girls, emphasizing that power comes from community. Gorman is careful to specify that “some of us go by she / And some of us go by they.” She affirms, too, that each person is “a different shape and size,” though the art doesn’t show much variation in body type. Characters also vary in ability. Real-life figures emerge as the girls dream of past luminaries such as author Octavia Butler and activist Marsha P. Johnson, along with present-day role models including poet and journalist Plestia Alaqad and athlete Sha’carri Richardson; silhouettes stand in for heroines as yet unknown. Imagining that “we are where change is going” is hopeful indeed.
Enthusiastic and direct, this paean has a lovely ring to it. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Jan. 7, 2025
ISBN: 9780593624180
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Oct. 12, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A well-meaning but lackluster tribute.
Readers bid farewell to a beloved canine character.
Momo is—or was—an adorable and very photogenic border collie owned by author Knapp. The many readers who loved him in the previous half-dozen books are in for a shock with this one. “Momo had died” is the stark reality—and there are no photographs of him here. Instead, Momo has been replaced by a flat cartoonish pastiche with strange, staring round white eyes, inserted into some of Knapp’s photography (which remains appealing, insofar as it can be discerned under the mixed media). Previous books contained few or no words. Unfortunately, virtuosity behind a lens does not guarantee mastery of verse. The art here is accompanied by words that sometimes rhyme but never find a workable or predictable rhythm (“We’d fetch and we’d catch, / we’d run and we’d jump. Every day we found new / games to play”). It’s a pity, because the subject—a pet’s death—is an important one to address with children. Of course, Momo isn’t gone; he can still be found “everywhere” in memories. But alas, he can be found here only in the crude depictions of the darling dog so well known from the earlier books.
A well-meaning but lackluster tribute. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Feb. 6, 2024
ISBN: 9781683693864
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Quirk Books
Review Posted Online: Nov. 4, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
