A moving book about kindness, friendship, and hope in the context of conflict and displacement.
Following The Most Beautiful Village in the World (2018) and The Circus Comes to the Village (2019), Kobayashi offers the tale of a boy’s return to his homeland after it has been through war.
After leaving his small village in Afghanistan, young Mirado travels the world with the circus, playing the flute that his father gave him. He hears on the radio that the war, which his father joined and hasn’t returned from yet, has ended. Mirado sets his mind on going back to Paghman, his village. After saying goodbye to his circus colleagues, he embarks eastward on a long and rough trip. When neither train, bus, nor wagon can get him further, he walks. Throughout the book, readers see him in several urban and rural spaces, some of which may look familiar. Kobayashi’s landscapes will frequently take their breath away. Mirado journeys across mountains and forests, against the wind and in the cold. Kind strangers help him along the way, including other refugees attempting to return home. He will find his Paghman in ruins but will also meet his best friend, Yamo, and together, they will imagine and plan for a brighter future. This suspenseful and beautifully illustrated story, originally published in Japan in 2003, covers a topic unfrequented in children’s literature about refugees and one that’s often romanticized in real life: that of the return.
A moving book about kindness, friendship, and hope in the context of conflict and displacement. (Picture book. 5-10)Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-940842-45-5
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Museyon
Review Posted Online: Oct. 26, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A powerful retrospective glimpse at a key event.
A vibrantly illustrated account of the Birmingham Children’s Crusade through the eyes of a young girl who volunteers to participate.
Morrison’s signature style depicts each black child throughout the book as a distinct individual; on the endpapers, children hold signs that collectively create a “Civil Rights and the Children’s Crusade” timeline, placing the events of the book in the context of the greater movement. When Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. comes to speak at her church, a girl and her brother volunteer to march in their parents’ stead. The narrative succinctly explains why the Children’s Crusade was a necessary logistical move, one that children and parents made with careful consideration and despite fear. Lines of text (“Let the children march. / They will lead the way // The path may be long and / troubled, but I’m gonna walk on!”) are placed within the illustrations in bold swoops for emphasis. Morrison’s powerful use of perspective makes his beautiful oil paintings even more dynamic and conveys the intensity of the situations depicted, including the children’s being arrested, hosed, and jailed. The child crusaders, regardless of how badly they’re treated, never lose their dignity, which the art conveys flawlessly. While the children win the day, such details as the Confederate flag subtly connect the struggle to the current day.
A powerful retrospective glimpse at a key event. (timeline, afterword, artist’s statement, quote sources, bibliography) (Picture book. 5-9)Pub Date: Jan. 2, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-544-70452-7
Page Count: 40
Publisher: HMH Books
Review Posted Online: Oct. 15, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
A poignant tale of courage and resistance and of long-standing cultural traditions.
An enslaved Black child reflects on the role hair braiding plays in her life and her community.
Nemy scatters seeds and pulls weeds in the fields. She observes a woman named Big Mother, who works hard in the sugar cane fields, cooking and telling stories before bed. When Nemy follows Big Mother to a shack one night, she sees her and other women braiding one another’s hair. Nemy joins them, and as her hair is braided, she remembers her own Nana. Surrounded by a loving, tight-knit community, she learns how women braid messages, information, and even seeds into their hair. One morning, the group—including Nemy—flees, the routes of freedom braided in their hair. They avoid danger and recapture until they can establish a new home, deep in the forests surrounding the plantation. In an author’s note, Duncan explains how she drew from real history—specifically the experiences of those enslaved in Colombia. Quietly tinged with hope, her narrative demonstrates how those in bondage used skills passed down over generations to find the liberty they desired. Moses’ digitally rendered art depicts intricate braid patterns; his dramatic use of color during the escape scene heightens the drama, bathing characters in deep blues as they make their way to freedom.
A poignant tale of courage and resistance and of long-standing cultural traditions. (Picture book. 5-9)Pub Date: Sept. 10, 2024
ISBN: 9781915244802
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Lantana
Review Posted Online: Aug. 30, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2024
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