This is the story of a refugee family's journey from their unspecified homeland to a safer place. It takes them across various terrain stylistically portrayed through the children's imagination. The things they carry become their home and emblems of hope as they make the trek. The cup is a boat, the blanket a sail, the small lamp a lighthouse, and a flower a ladder guiding them to safety while providing the comfort of the familiar. The vibrant, full-page illustrations convey the dreams of the refugees and help soften some of the text that deals with the uncertainty and hardship that is part of this kind of journey. This is a timely story that will allow parents and teachers to open a discussion with young readers about the experiences of refugees or even the modern refugee crisis.
Story Boat
When you have to leave behind almost everything you know, where can you call home? Sometimes home is simply where we are: here. A imaginative, lyrical, unforgettable picture book about the migrant experience through a child's eyes. When a little girl and her younger brother are forced along with their family to flee the home they've always known, they must learn to make a new home for themselves -- wherever they are. And sometimes the smallest things -- a cup, a blanket, a lamp, a flower, a story -- can become a port of hope in a terrible storm. As the refugees travel onward toward an uncertain future, they are buoyed up by their hopes, dreams and the stories they tell -- a story that will carry them perpetually forward. This timely, sensitively told story, written by multiple award--winner Kyo Maclear and illustrated by Sendak Fellowship recipient Rashin Kheiriyeh, introduces very young readers in a gentle, non-frightening and ultimately hopeful way to the current refugee crisis.