Omar's village in Somalia was attacked when Omar was a small child. He and his autistic brother, Hassan, were separated from their mother (their father was killed in the attack). The boys are taken to the Dadaab refugee camp where they are assigned to a foster mother. At first Omar doesn't attend the camp school because he feels obligated to stay home with his brother. All he wants is to return to Somalia and find his mother. As time goes on, his dreams change. He embraces school and dreams of resettlement in America, Canada, or Sweden.
This is a true story of one boy's life growing up in a massive refugee camp in Kenya. It is sobering to hear of the living conditions and lack of adequate food. The story is written honestly, without shrinking from the hardships, or leaving out the positive experiences. I listened to the book on Overdrive, but the print version is a graphic novel. The producers of the recording (which is full cast) did a good job filling in the missing visuals with sound affects and other aural clues. This book is one I would love to have every kid in my predominantly white upper middle class community to read, so they can understand how much other people don't have and how much they do. I am sure this is on a bunch of award lists for this year. I wouldn't be surprised if it won a Newbery, Caldecott or both. (2020, 256 p.)
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