For the last few weeks I have felt as if the world really is struggling to stay 'upright.' Everywhere I look I see news about hurricanes and wildfires. My own beautiful valley has been shrouded by a fog of heavy, eye-burning, wildfire smoke that leaves me wheezing and exhausted. Then there are all the political conflicts that are disrupting people's lives all over the planet. In a way these are even worse than the challenges that Mother Nature tests us with because they are preventable, and the long-term effects of these kinds of events can last for decades.
What is happening in Syria is a perfect example of these man-made disasters. Today I bring you a book about a little boy who loses everything he holds dear when his home is destroyed and he becomes a refugee.
My Beautiful Birds
What is happening in Syria is a perfect example of these man-made disasters. Today I bring you a book about a little boy who loses everything he holds dear when his home is destroyed and he becomes a refugee.
My Beautiful Birds
Suzanne Del Rizzo
Picture Book
For ages 5 to 7
Pajama Press, 2017, 978-1-77278-010-9
When their town is bombed and starts to burn, Sami and
his family have no choice but to leave. War has destroyed their home and now
they are refugees carrying all that they own on their backs and in their arms.
Sami is brokenhearted not just because he has lost his home, but also because
he has lost the pet pigeons he loved and cared for. Sami’s father reassures his
son that the pigeons “escaped too.” His words gives Sami a little comfort.
Sami and his
family members walk for several days until they finally come to a refugee camp.
Here at last they will be safe. They are given a tent to live in, and it is not
long before Father plants a garden, Mother starts cooking meals, and the camp’s
children start attending a school that is set up for them. Just like before,
the children sing songs, they do math, they play soccer, and they paint
pictures, but Sami cannot enjoy doing any of these things. He is too
broken-hearted about the loss of his home and his birds.
One day Sami is
lying on the roof of a building looking up at the sky and daydreaming when four
birds arrive. They are refugees in the desert, just like Sami.
When you live in
a peaceful place where there is no war or conflict, it is hard to imagine what
it is like to lose everything. It is hard to imagine what it is like to be a
refugee. Unfortunately, today more people have been displaced by conflict and
natural disasters than ever before.
One of the
places where these displacements are taking place is Syria, a country that has
been ripped apart by war. In this story we meet a Syrian child whose whole life
is turned upside down when his hometown is destroyed. We watch as he struggles
to adjust to his new existence in a refugee camp, and as he longs for what he
used to have.
Beautifully
written, and illustrated using polymer clay and acrylic, this picture book
serves as a tribute to all those families who have had to venture out into the
unknown when their homes have been taken from them.
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