Starred review from March 27, 2017
This composite portrait of the struggles of 20th- and 21st-century boat refugees is alternately harrowing, wrenching, and hopeful. Leatherdale (coauthor of Urban Tribes and Dreaming in Indian) provides compact profiles of five adolescents who, between 1939 and 2006, left their homelands to escape violence and repressive regimes. In 1939, 18-year-old Ruth was among more than 900 German Jews aboard the SS St. Louis who were turned away from Cuba (and several other North and South American nations, including the U.S.); decades later, 13-year-old José and his family fled Cuba in what became known as the Mariel boatlift. Sidebars provide historical context, and the asylum-seekers’ first-person accounts bring immediacy and urgency to their stories (four of the former refugees are still alive, and shared their stories with the author). Displacement, desperation, isolation, and persecution are common to all five stories, and although closing passages offer somewhat heartening updates on what happened to each individual, Leatherdale never sugarcoats the human cost of these tragedies. Shakespeare’s (Cut, Paste, Create) photo collages underscore the peril and perseverance of the journeys, which serve as powerful mirrors to current humanitarian crises. Ages 10–up.
Starred review from April 15, 2017
Grades 4-7 *Starred Review* Leatherdale and Shakespeare's slim, gut-punch of a volume opens with a staggering statistic: Sixty million of the world's seven billion people . . . have been forced to leave their homes because of war, persecution, or natural disasters. Five of those 60 million are profiled here, with snippets of interviews, key historical context, and photos of each teenage subject included on eye-catching collage spreads. Jewish Ruth boards an ocean liner to escape the Nazis in Germany, but the ship is repeatedly turned away. Phu leaves his family behind and flees Vietnam on a crowded boat, which was repeatedly attacked by pirates. Jose leaves with his family from Cuba, bound for the United States and nothing is going to stop them. Najeeba and her family flee the Taliban in Afghanistan, while Mohamed endures four horrendous years of being moved around by human traffickers before finally attaining freedom and stability in Italy. The facts and statistics Leatherdale includes are undoubtedly shocking, but it's the refugees' personal stories and voices that make these accounts especially meaningful, particularly since each of the five ultimately survived their harrowing journeys. Shakespeare's dynamic, magazine-style spreads contain maps, headlines, photos, and evocative images rendered in torn paper and thick ink scrawls. Together, the words and images offer an affecting perspective on the plight of refugees and emphasizes that this human-rights crisis is an ongoing, urgent issue.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)
Starred review from April 1, 2017
Gr 4-7-Across time, desperation has driven people from their homes in search of refuge-and the only way out is often through a stormy passage on the sea. Ruth was one of 900 Jewish people who boarded a ship, hoping to escape Nazi Germany; Mohammed, orphaned during the civil war in the Ivory Coast, scrounged up money to board a narrow, crowded boat headed for Europe. While Shakespeare provides evocative collage artwork, Leatherdale deftly retells the stories in spare but honest language; the text does not shy away from the perilous circumstances that the young people both escaped from and encountered. There are no guarantees of happy endings, but the information is important for students to understand. It is impossible to ignore the importance of a book like this in the current political climate, and educators and librarians looking for a human face for the refugee crisis will find this offering essential. VERDICT A timely, powerful piece of nonfiction, this is a first purchase for most collections.-Erinn Black Salge, Saint Peter's Preparatory School, Jersey City
Copyright 2017 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.