“I shake my head.
I say, This America is hard work.” – Kek
Kek is a Sudanese boy adrift in the world. He witnesses the murder of his father and brother. His mother’s whereabouts are unknown. A bewildering stint at a refugee camp is followed by an even more unsettling relocation by “flying boat” to America. Burdened by his losses, Kek learns to keep his hope alive as he adjusts to life in America.
Home of the Brave is Kek’s story. Continue reading
How does one review a wordless picture book, when the illustrator has already decided that words are insufficient, and ineffective in the storytelling? Do I say that in small things, the illustrations are achingly exquisite and hauntingly beautiful? Or that I felt, understood – to the core – and found familiar, the sadness, loneliness and depression experienced by the small boy in the story? Or that this is probably one of the most profound, and important, picture books on childhood anxiety that I have had the good fortune to discover? All true words, but strangely insufficient, and ineffective. To truly appreciate this wonderful picture book, you need to hold it in your hands and absorb every frame as you turn the pages. Continue reading
B: Are you going to write about The Boy in the Dress on the blog?
M: Do you think it’s bloggable?
B: Yeah, it’s good.
M: Ok then. It was fun reading this together, wasn’t it? Actually, I read this with your sister four years ago, and it was pretty good then too.
B: So you’ve read this two times now? You must really like it.
Continue reading
Maybe the others would have believed me. Maybe not. But I wasn’t going to tell them. This was just for me. – Vera
Every summer, all of Vera’s friends go off to camp. She never has. Now she is.
Vera is Russian, and as much as she tries to fit in with her American friends, she still feels like the odd one out. After a bit of a disaster with her birthday sleepover, Vera hears about a Russian camp called O.R.R.A. from a girl at her church, and she is determined to go there. She thinks that she won’t be that left out, because everyone else would be Russian, like her. She isn’t prepared for the camp ahead of her.
Stories That Stay With Us 