Home of the Brave by Katherine Applegate

The night Ganwar lost his hand was the night I lost my father and brother, the night of men in the sky with guns, the night the earth opened up like a black pit and swallowed my old life whole.

Why am I here, when so many others are not? Why should I have a desk and a pair of fine jeans and a soft place for my head to rest? Why should I have the freedom to hope while my brother and father sleep in bloodied earth?

Kek arrives in America on a freezing cold winters day. He has come by airplane from Sudan. He has watched as his father and brother have been killed and he has had to leave his mother behind after their refugee camp was attacked. Kek is picked up by a social worker named Dave. Kek does have an aunt and cousin in America so he will be able to live with people from his family. On the way to their apartment Kek sees a lonely cow standing in the snow. He has asked Dave to stop the car so he can get close - Kek cared for his father's cattle back in Sudan. And so this story begins ...

You can have your dogs and cats, your gerbils and hamsters and sleek sparkling fish. But you will have lived just half a life if you never love a cow.

This is an early verse novel from Katherine Applegate - here are some text quotes that really show her skill with this form and her brilliant word choices and placement:

I am a tall boy, like all my people. My arms stick out of the coat like lonely trees.

I try some English, but my mouth just wants to chew the words and spit them on the ground.

Six long scars line his forehead, the marks of manhood I watched Ganwar and my brother receive in our village ceremony. How jealous I had been that day, too young for such an honor.

He had many cattle, my father, and the respect of our village, but it was his voice that made him a rich man among men. His voice was deep, like a storm coming, but gentle, like the rain ending.

It’s a strange pain to be with those you belong to and feel you don’t belong.

I have my father’s will, my brother’s eyes, and my mother’s light. She is like newborn sun, fresh with promise, the just-beginning moments before the day fills like a bucket with good and bad, sweat and longing. Even her laughter has sun in it. Always when I think of her I see a cloudless day blooming full, I feel warmth on my shoulders, I know hope’s embrace.

I don’t have the cattle for such a fine desk as this. Oh, she says, you don’t have to pay for this desk, Kek. School’s free here. You just bring your mind and your smile every day, OK?

Bookseller blurb: Kek comes from Africa. In America, he sees snow for the first time and feels its sting. He's never walked on ice, and he falls. He wonders if the people in this new place will be like the winter--cold and unkind. In Africa, Kek lived with his mother, father, and brother. But only he and his mother have survived, and now she's missing. Kek is on his own. Slowly, he makes friends: a girl who is in foster care, an old woman who owns a rundown farm, and a cow whose name means "family" in his native language. As Kek awaits word of his mother's fate, he weathers the tough Minnesota winter by finding warmth in his new friendships, strength in his memories, and belief in his new country.

Home of the Brave was published in 2008. I read an ebook version as, I expected this book would now be out of print, - but luckily it is not so can I suggest you add this book to your library shopping list or make a request to your local public library to add this book to their shelves. 

If you are book talking Home of the Brave I would use the 'chapter' entitled "How not to wash dishes". I was reading this part, and I just had to stop because I knew a huge disaster was coming. 

The free verse writing makes it a quick read, although I found myself pausing to reflect on the story or just admire Applegate's word choice. YA Books Central

Each week I travel on a bus and train to volunteer in a hospital library. This gives me plenty of time for reading. Today I started and completed Home of the Brave. As I stepped off the bus the lady sitting beside me commented on the form of this book. She had never seen a verse novel before. I was so happy to talk about this format and how books told as verse novels usually contain very emotional stories and that this book - Home of the Brave was no exception. 

I only have one tiny quibble which is why I gave Home of the Brave (perfect for readers aged 10+) four and not five stars. When Kek meets the owner of the cow Lou, he tells her he comes from Africa - but Africa is not a country. I hoped he would say the name of his country - Sudan. 

There are four parts in this book and each begins with an African proverb:

When elephants fight, it is the grass that suffers.

You only make a bridge where there is a river.

One doesn’t forego sleeping because of the possibility of nightmares.

When spider webs unite, they can tie up a lion.

Companion books:

Moo

The Colour of Home 

(This is a picture book which I often share with Grade 6 students)

All from a Walnut by Ammi-Joan Paquette illustrated by Felicia Sala

This is a book about grief, change and patience. Grandpa tells Emilia a story of the walnut he carried on his journey across the ocean to find a new home. His parents told him he could only take a small bag but he also had a walnut in his pocket. The reasons his family left their homeland are not explained in the text but the illustration shows people in sepia tones carrying bags and children and disembarking a large ship. 

Image source: Felicita Sala

Years after their arrival Grandpa is able to finally plant his seed in a garden and now, years later, Grandpa is able to show his huge tree to Emilia and how to plant the new walnut seed.

"As time passed, Grandpa moved more and more slowly. He stayed in his armchair most of the day and sometimes he fell asleep tight in the middle of a story. ... the days grew very cold and very dark, Emilia held her grandfather close for as long as she could. Then she said goodbye."

This book caught my eye at a recent charity book sale because firstly my friend and I adore the work of illustrator Felicita Sala (we claim her as Australian even though she lives in Rome) and then I saw the dust jacket - I adore dust jackets. We rarely see them here in Australia. Then bonus this dust jacket has a fabulous case reveal - meaning there is a surprise image under the jacket. My copy is in mint condition. I wonder how it came to be donated to the fair - it has perhaps lingered on a home bookshelf since it was first published in 2022.

The warmhearted watercolor, gouache, and colored-pencil illustrations are the true highlight of the book, offering lovingly rendered images of Sala’s native Italy and a poignant view of Grandpa’s aging and eventual passing. A gentle tale about maintaining a sense of continuity and rootedness in the face of life’s upheavals, this book is a worthy addition to any personal or library collection. Kirkus

“The relatively simple text includes many layers—in addition to being an immigration story, it is a family history tale and a story about the passing of a beloved grandparent and the carrying on of that person’s legacy. Paquette’s emotive writing is strong and clear.” –Hornbook

See art from this book here.  Here is the web page for the author Ammi-Joan Paquette.

Companion books:

My Baba's Garden

These Long-Loved things

The Memory Tree

No Purchase Necessary by Maria Marianayagam

I got to the section with the Mercury bars and stared at the chocolate bar in front of me, my heart pounding so loud I was sure Scary Al could hear it from behind the till. I glanced up at the cash register. Scary Al was ringing up a customer. I should do it now, I told myself, but my hands trembled in my pockets. What on earth was I doing? This was not me. ... “Some people must steal to survive,” I whispered to myself. I needed to do this to survive Bridge Creek. I’d find a way to pay for it someday.

Ajay and his family (father, mother and younger sister) have come to America from Sri Lanka. Amma and Appa have very high expectations for their children. Ajay does not want to disappoint them, so it seems easier to tell them a lie about the grade for his poetry assignment. His father expects Ajay to always score over 90 but for this assignment, set by Ms Livingston, where students had to respond to the Robert Frost poem ‘Nothing Gold Can Stay', Ajay scored 79. This lie, telling his parents he scored 90, is the first of many. You could think of the term 'slippery slope'.

Ajay is a new student at Bridge Creek Middle School. Jacob is also fairly new too, but Jacob is a bully and has already acquired a couple of thuggish friends. Early in the story there is a terrible scene where Jacob sees Ajay eating a Sri Lankan Sandwich: 

"Just as I was about to take a bite of my sandwich, Jacob walked up with his goons. He stopped in front of me, blocking out the daylight, and my insides went as cold as my outside. He looked at my sandwich and scrunched up his face. “What’s this stinky sandwich, Uhh-jay?” That also wasn’t my name. ... “Swi Lunk what?” Jacob howled. “What kind of meat is that?” Brad and Eric snickered again. ... “Yeah, it’s gross,” I said, and immediately felt guilty. It was my favorite. “You should throw it out,” he said as he munched his chocolate bar mindlessly. I’d never tried a Mercury bar, and here he was chewing it like a piece of stale gum. He was testing me, and I was ready. I needed to prove to Jacob Underson that I could be cool. Carefree. I shrugged. “Okay.” I walked over to the trash can and threw out my uneaten sandwich. Jacob smirked, then turned around and walked away."

From that day on it broke my heart to read that Ajay always bought a simple ham and cheese sandwich to school. He also cleared his locker every day and carried every book home just in case he needed one for a school assignment. Ajay puts so much pressure on himself. Thank goodness he does excel at maths and karate. 

It's that chocolate bar that leads to the next problem and the incident that 'snowballs' into so many terrible lies and dilemmas for Ajay. Jacob tells Ajay to steal a Mercury Bar from Scary Al's store. Ajay is terrified but also desperate for approval so he takes the chocolate and stashes it in the waist band of his trousers. Jacob is 'mock' horrified and he tosses the treat away. When Ajay picks it up he finds he has won the prize. But how can he claim this million dollar prize when he didn't buy the chocolate; and how can he tell his parents; and what about Scary Al, the store owner - surely, he will contact the police; and then there is the complication of his new friend Mindy - the way all of this happened this chocolate bar should have been her purchase. Oh and what do the words "no purchase necessary" actually mean?

There is so much tension in this story which is driven by the complex moral dilemma of what to do if you win one million dollars but actually it seems impossible to claim the prize.

Here are a couple of text quotes:

My throat tightened. That was the thing about Appa and Amma. They could be one hundred percent scary and one hundred percent loving at the same time. And maybe we were all like that. Not a list of things, but a messy pile—jumbled, overlapping, and contradicting.

I wanted to tell them about the chocolate bar, but my heart started palpitating when I thought about it. I couldn’t. The right thing to do was to let it go, I decided. I’d paid Al back. I wasn’t redeeming the prize. It was time to move on and start over. But for some reason, it still felt like I had miles to go before I got some sleep.

I had all these rituals because I wanted my life to be perfect. Perfect student. Perfect son. Perfect everything. And what about my life was perfect anymore? Nothing. I was a thief. And now I’d nearly killed someone.

He cleared his throat. “We put high expectations on you because we don’t want you to ever struggle the way we have. We do it because we want you to have better lives than we’ve had.” He turned to Aarthi. “But maybe, somewhere along the way, we became too hard on you.”

For more plot details read this detailed plot summary by Ms Yingling - I love her final comment:

This made me SO anxious the whole time I was reading it, which just shows how good the writing was, but it was not a good feeling! I thought of a dozen different ways that Ajay would have been able to claim the prize, and it was frustrating when he didn't take any of my advice! 

Here in Australian you will need to wait to read this book. I read an ebook version. The print copy (256 pages) is only in hardcover so far and it is very expensive but hopefully a paperback edition is planned. This book will be devoured by readers aged 10+ and it fits that expression "windows and mirrors". For some this book will be a window into the life of a migrant family and the cultural expectations of parents and while others are sure to relate (mirrors) to the pressures placed on Ajay and his sister and the unfairness of the way Amma and Appa are treated in their new country. 

Maria Marianayagam lives in Alberta, Canada: "My stories call upon a childhood and adulthood of multiple identities. I am a Canadian who was born in India. I am a Catholic but also Tamil Sri Lankan. I love writing but have a degree in chemical engineering. We all contain multitudes–and I draw on our intersections to inspire, empower, and engage young readers."

The novel’s plot twists will especially entrance and surprise younger audiences and those able to suspend disbelief and go with the flow of this completely age-appropriate and appealing story. Utter fun. Kirkus Star review

No Purchase Necessary is a warmhearted coming-of-age story about figuring out who you want to be and standing up for what’s right. Marianayagam has crafted an enjoyable, humorous, and thoughtful story that sheds light on immigrant struggles and the pressure kids face to be like their peers. Reading Middle Grade

Bookseller blurb: Ajay Anthonipillai has a million-dollar problem. Ajay has lived his life dutifully following the rules set by his Tamil parents.

• Rule #3: Straight As only
• Rule #5: There is no such thing as a no-homework day.
• Rule #10: Never watch scary movies.

However, moving to a new school gives Ajay a new rule to follow: Get on seventh-grade all-star Jacob Underson's good side. When Jacob asks him to steal a Mercury bar from Scary Al's convenience store, Ajay feels this is his chance to finally "get cool" and stop eating alone. But Jacob rejects the stolen chocolate bar, leaving Ajay to unwrap it and discover that it contains Mercury's Twenty-fifth Anniversary Grand Prize...one million dollars. Faced with an extreme dilemma, Ajay will have to bear the weight of his actions and battle his morality in deciding whether to claim the prize that may change the life of his family forever.

There are some interesting book and poetry references in this story. Ajay loves The Hardy Boys book series. Mindy loves Nancy Drew. Ms Livingston sets assignments on famous poems by Robert Frost: Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening; and The Road Not Taken.

Companion books:

Scar Town

The Eleventh Trade

These two are for younger readers:

Bored Book One: Milo finds $105

Mr Chickee's Funny Money

An Ellis Island Christmas by Maxine Rhea Leighton illustrated by Dennis Nolan

This is a curious Christmas book to share here in Australia because it recounts the history of migrants to the US who arrive in New York and who were 'processed' on Ellis Island. 

Publisher blurb: Krysia does not want to leave her home and her friend, Michi, but there are soldiers with guns on the streets and her mother says that they must go. Krysia, her two brothers, and her mother pack their favorite belongings and begin the long, harrowing journey to America. Krysia is scared but she finds courage when she thinks of her father waiting for her in America with the promise of a better tomorrow. Inspired by Maxinne Rhea Leighton's father's journey from Poland to America, this is a powerful reminder of the beacon of hope and opportunity that Ellis Island symbolized and the importance of family at Christmastime.

I enjoyed the discovery of this book because many years ago I visited Ellis Island (on the recommendation of a friend) and I did the audio tour where you follow the footsteps of someone arriving on Ellis Island. Later I also did a fabulous tenement tour where you also followed on family and discovered how they lived between 1892 and 1924. How did I come to read this book? Well, I found it at a recent charity book sale for just $1. This book was published in 1992. I wonder how this copy came to Australia and who has had it on their shelves before it reached the book sale?

"Upon reaching the New York harbour, steerage-class passengers were transferred from the steamship to a barge that took them to Ellis Island. After disembarking, they walked under a canopy, through the baggage room, and up the stairs. In the Registry Room each person had to go through a routine inspection and medical examination that lasted between three and five hours. ... Passing meant entry into America; failing meant detainment or deportment back to the very country the immigrant had just left. "

Here are other books illustrated by Dennis Nolan - his style is very painterly. 

Seedfolks by Paul Fleischman

AMIR: The garden’s green was as soothing to the eye as the deep blue of that rug. I’m aware of color—I manage a fabric store. But the garden’s greatest benefit, I feel, 

was not relief to the eyes, but to make the eyes see our neighbors.

This book is such an interesting discovery. It is a book for Young Adult readers but I am sure adults will enjoy the way this book is written as a jigsaw puzzle where we meet a diversity of characters all linked through their connection with a community garden. (In the UK this might be called an allotment). Seedfolks was published in 1997 - I read an ebook version. The good news is the paperback [9780064472074] from 1999 seems to be available to order from your favourite independent book seller.

Publisher blurb: A Vietnamese girl plants six lima beans in a Cleveland vacant lot. Looking down on the immigrant-filled neighborhood, a Romanian woman watches suspiciously. A school janitor gets involved, then a Guatemalan family. Then muscle-bound Curtis, trying to win back Lateesha. Pregnant Maricela. Amir from India. A sense of community sprouts and spreads. 

Characters

• Kim: A Vietnamese girl mourning her father, who plants beans to connect with him.
• Ana: An elderly Romanian woman who initially distrusts Kim but later helps tend the garden.
• Wendell: A school janitor who supports Kim and contributes to the garden.
• Gonzalo: A young Guatemalan boy who feels responsible for his uncle and finds purpose in gardening.
• Curtis: A muscle-bound man trying to win back his ex-girlfriend through gardening.
• Leona: A passionate woman who fights to clean the lot and grows goldenrod, believing it has healing properties.
• Maricela: A pregnant teen who learns to care for plants and finds hope for her future.
• Amir: An Indian immigrant who grows eggplant, sharing his heritage with others in the community.
• Tío Juan: Gonzalo’s uncle, a farmer who finds joy in sharing his knowledge with children.
• Sae Young: A Korean woman who finds solace among neighbors as she tends to the garden.

Here is the Kirkus review. There is a link to book club questions on the publisher web page. Wikipedia have more plot details. 

Listen to a discussion about his book with All Things Considered.

Quick facts (Source Audible blog)

• Seedfolks features 13 distinct narrators, each telling their own chapter of the story.
• Despite its large and diverse cast of characters, the book is only 80 pages long.
• The story is set in Cleveland, Ohio, and spans one year, from the planting of the first seeds to the following spring.
• Seedfolks was named an ALA Best Book for Young Adults in 1998 and won the Buckeye Children's Book Award for ages six to eight in 1999.
• Seedfolks has been adapted into a play and performed on Broadway.
• The audiobook version features 13 different voice actors to represent each character.

Here are a few text quotes:

KIM: All his life in Vietnam my father had been a farmer. Here our apartment house had no yard. But in that vacant lot he would see me. He would watch my beans break ground and spread, and would notice with pleasure their pods growing plump. He would see my patience and my hard work. I would show him that I could raise plants, as he had. I would show him that I was his daughter.

WENDELL: There’s plenty about my life I can’t change. Can’t bring the dead back to life on this earth. Can’t make the world loving and kind. Can’t change myself into a millionaire. But a patch of ground in this trashy lot—I can change that. Can change it big. Better to put my time into that than moaning about the other all day. That little grammar-school girl showed me that.

LEONA: There were probably lots of folks who’d want to grow something, just like me. Then I studied all the trash on the ground. Don’t know why anyone called that lot “vacant.” The garbage was piled high as your waist, some of it from the neighborhood and some dropped off by outside people. The ones who don’t want to pay at the dump, or got dangerous chemicals, or think we’re such slobs down here we won’t mind another load of junk. ...  The gardeners had made some trails through it. But I knew precious few would join ’em until that mess was hauled away.

NORA: That small circle of earth became a second home to both of us. Gardening boring? Never! It has suspense, tragedy, startling developments—a soap opera growing out of the ground. I’d forgotten that tremolo of expectation produced by a tiny forest of sprouts. What a marvelous sight it was to behold Mr. Myles’ furrowed black face inspecting his smooth-skinned young, just arrived in the world he’d shortly leave. His eyes gained back some of their life. He weeded and watered with great concentration.

Paul Fleischman grew up in Santa Monica, California. The son of well-known children's novelist Sid Fleischman, Paul was in the unique position of having his famous father's books read out loud to him by the author as they were being written. This experience continued throughout his childhood. Paul followed in his father's footsteps as an author of books for young readers, and in 1982 he released the book "Graven Images", which was awarded a Newbery Honor citation. In 1988, Paul Fleischman came out with "Joyful Noise: Poems for Two Voices", an unusually unique collection of poetry from the perspective of insects. This book was awarded the 1989 John Newbery Medal. Factoring in Sid Fleischman's win of the John Newbery Medal in 1987 for his book "The Whipping Boy", Paul and Sid Fleischman became to this day the only father and son authors to both win the John Newbery Medal.

A Different Pond by Bao Phi illustrated by Thi Bui

"a powerful, multilayered story about family, memory, and the costs of becoming a refugee". Kirkus Star review

"Both my parents worked multiple jobs to survive and support us in a country whose people did not understand why we were here at best, and blamed us for the aftermath of the war at worst. My father would sometime take us fishing with him, before the sun came up - for food, not for sport." Bao Phi

A Different Pond won a Caldecott Honour in 2018. I would share this book with older readers aged 10+. 

Bookseller blurb: Acclaimed poet Bao Phi delivers a powerful, honest glimpse into a relationship between father and son and between cultures, old and new. A Different Pond is an unforgettable story about a simple event--a long-ago fishing trip. As a young boy, Bao Phi awoke early, hours before his father's long workday began, to fish on the shores of a small pond in Minneapolis. Unlike many other anglers, Bao and his father fished for food, not recreation. A successful catch meant a fed family. Between hope-filled casts, Bao's father told him about a different pond in their homeland of Vietnam. The New York Times has said that Bao Phi's poetry "rhymes with the truth." Together with graphic novelist Thi Bui's striking, evocative art, Phi's expertly crafted prose reflects an immigrant family making its way in a new home while honoring its bonds to the past.

Image source: Let's Talk Picture Books

Spare and simple, a must-read for our times. Kirkus Star review

Can I recommend you read this book more than once. There are plot fragments in so many of the lines of text - small statements that belies huge issues or past stories.

Read these and in brackets I have added my interpretation:

"In the kitchen the bare bulb ... " (The family cannot afford to add decorations such as light covers and it may be that they are renting this very basic home).

"to me his English sounds like gentle rain". (This boy is proud of his dad and he intuitively understands his dad has had to learn a new language in this strange land. It is fantastic that this young boy can ignore the awful comments by the school bullies).

"I got a second job". (Dad is hard working and really wants to provide for his family. He is willing to work long hours and on weekends so their fishing expedition has to happen well before dawn. We also read that mum has to work all day on Saturday too).

"I feel the callouses on his hand when he squeezes mine". (Dad is hard worker - and his work is a form on manual labour. I wonder if, given different opportunities he might have been able to complete higher levels of education and perhaps have a 'better' or more highly paid job).

"One day, his brother didn't come home". (This is a fragment about the events of the Vietnam war and the devastating impact of this on his father).

"I wonder what the trees look like at that other pond in the country my dad comes from". (This sums up the power of this story).

Companion books:

Read more here.

The Truck Cat by Deborah Frenkel illustrated by Danny Snell

Yacoub lives in his truck. He drives huge distances carrying many different things. English is not his first language, and he sometimes finds it difficult to talk to the other truck drivers he meets along the way but luckily Yacoub has his little cat named Tinka. Tinka keeps Yacoub company on long journeys and under the stars at night. But then one day Tinka is distracted by a fluttering butterfly, and he accidentally leaves Yacoub behind. Luckily Tinka is rescued by a kind young woman named Mari. Tinka is happy living in htis new place and he enjoys her bakery and the fresh fish she feeds him but he is also worried about his friend. Will Tinka and Yacoub ever be reunited?

Here is the web site for Deborah Frenkel. I previously talked about this book:

Naturoplois

Here is an interview with Justkidslit where Deborah Frenkel talks about The Truck Cat.

Here is the web site for Danny Snell. 

Blurb from the teachers notes (via Pegi Williams): Tinka is a truck cat, travelling the open roads of Australia with Yacoub in his truck. Yacoub doesn’t know many other people, but he and Tinka always have each other. Until one day, Tinka gets distracted chasing a white butterfly and ends up on a busy main road, with cars and trucks separating him from Yacoub. Luckily, Tinka is saved by a kind-hearted baker, Mari, who takes him into her home and her life and feeds him. But Tinka always worries about Yacoub, out there in the silence. Yacoub worries about Tinka too, missing the companionship of his friend … until one day, a smell draws him to the window of a bakery, where a familiar face waits for him.

By chance I borrowed The Truck Cat from the library this week and then today I saw it was announced as the 2025 National Simultaneous Storytime book which is on May 22nd, 2025 at 12:00pm AEST

About National Simultaneous Storytime: by facilitating NSS we aim to: 

• promote the value of reading and literacy, 
• promote the value and fun of books,
• promote an Australian writer and publisher, 
• celebrate and promote storytime activities in public libraries, school libraries, classrooms and communities around the country,
• and provide opportunities to involve parents, caregivers, the media, and others to participate in and enjoy the occasion.

What do we look for in the National Simultaneous Storytime book?

Each year interested publishers send in possible titles. From a practical perspective, the publisher has to be able and willing to provide copyright release for use of the illustrations, book projection, translation into other languages and performance. The publisher also needs to commit to a special print run of several thousand copies. This narrows down the options. The criteria for choosing from the remaining books include: 

• a positive storyline
• appeal to a modern and diverse audience
• suitability for read-aloud (language and length)
• how well the book lends itself to craft and other activities

I was very interested to read the criteria because I had (wrongly) assumed that since (in the past) Scholastic Australia were sponsors of this event the book had to be a Scholastic Australia publication. I am pleased to see I was wrong. The book this year comes from Bright Light which an imprint of Hardie Grant Children's Publishing.

Things to talk about and discuss after reading The Truck Cat:

How do you know the setting for this story is in Australia?

Do you think Yacoub has always been a truck driver? What does it mean 'to make a living'? 

How do you know Yacoub has not always lived in Australia? 

Why is Yacoub thinking about 'the old country'? What does this phrase mean?

Think about the sentence "Until cool hands lifted him from the road, held him gently, and carried him to a car." How does the meaning of this change if you alter the words 'cool' and 'gently'. What emotions do you feel when Mari rescues Tinka.

Tinka cannot tell Mari that he is worried about Yacoub but what might he say if he could talk?

When do we get the first hint that there might be a cultural connection between Mari and Yacoub?

How does Deborah Frenkel give her story a perfect sense of completion? 

The final pages show changes to the lives of Mari and Yacoub - what has happened? Talk about the way Danny Snell has extended the text well beyond the words of the story. How has 'home' now changed for Yacoub?

Discuss the vocab from the book - interloper, mewing, lunged, daintiest, depots, tri-axle, rafters

Older students - read the end notes from the author and research refugees from WWII who settled in Australia. Find other picture books about the modern refugee experience. Here is my Pinterest with some books that are sure to be in your school library. 

Research Polish cakes and biscuits. Check if your family have favourite recipes from other cultures.

Yacoub calls his grandmother Nena. What do you call your grandparents?

Book design - note the changes to the end papers; the consistent colour palette used in the water colour illustrations; the use of framing as a way to sequence the plot.

How does Danny Snell show movement of Tinka and also of the traffic in his illustrations?

A similar thing happens on the page where the truck is carrying eggs - how do we know the truck is moving slowly so the eggs don't get scrambled?

Narrative devices - repeated structures - some cats are house cats, some are apartment cats, some cats live on farms, some live this the city. AND at the end sometimes he's a bakery cat, sometimes a sofa cat; sometimes he's a picnic cat and sometimes a train cat.

What device is Deborah Frenkel using with these phrases - brick motels with beetles in the bathtub; rest-stop huts with rats in the rafters; depots dancing with dragonflies; lorikeets landed in the lemon tree; pigeons pecked in the petunias.

You could make a library display of past NSS titles and even have a mini readathon in your classroom exploring all of these terrific Australian Picture Books.

If you can't read all of these try to find Arthur by Amanda Graham; Edward the Emu by Sheena Knowles; The Wrong book by Nick Bland; Too many elephants in this house by Ursula Dubosarsky; and Mrs Wilkinson's Chooks by Leona Peguero. 

To the Other Side by Erika Meza

También de este lado hay sueños
"There are dreams on this side too."

A big sister tells her younger sibling they are playing a game. The pair, and all their 'friends' don masks and they set off careful to avoid the monsters and knowing it is vital that they are not caught.

"She promised the masks would hide us. Make us fast. Make us brave. It's like tag. If the monsters catch you, you're out. 'We win the game when we cross the line.' Everyone was racing to see who could get there faster."

So where are these kids going? And why? And who are the monsters?

"We thought hard of what we might win. 'A home!' 'A really big school!' 'A spotty dog!' "A pair of shiny red shoes."

Take a look at this list - a home? This might be your first hint something bigger and way more serious is going on here. And in the illustrations, we see the children and others are running and then they are on a bus, a raft and train. But they are not riding in the train they are on the roof. This is another hint about the real reason for this 'game'. 

"This isn't a game ... is it?' I asked."

Finally you reach the last page - which contains the back matter for this story:

"There are currently 13 million child refugees in the world. Every year tens of thousands of children leave their homes, sometimes with their families, and sometimes alone, in search of a safter place to live."

Now go back and notice tiny details in the illustrations: the boy's mask eyes can close but his sister's eyes are always wide open. There are bars everywhere (anticipating immigration detention) even the game of hopscotch ends in a chalk set of bars that looks suspiciously like the US flag. The village they leave (flee) is on fire. There are black, evil looking figures watching them the whole way. The children only have their small backpacks. As they jump off the train, it turns into a monster. 

I was chilled to see crosses drawn on the wall and you can see the words written on the wall at the top of this post. This journey is truly one of life and death. And on the final pages, even though they have reached safety and have a new life, the sister still holds onto her mask. And there is a whole discussion that needs to be had about the colour choices and use colour in this book. 

This is one of the most interesting picture books I have read in a long time. As an adult reader it is clear this book is dealing with a devasting journey and deep themes of the plight of refugees and border crossings especially from Mexico into the US.  Betsy Bird said: I don’t know how this book got made. I mean, I know the rudimentary basics behind it. I know how an author would write out a proposal and, if they were also an artist, draw some sketches. What I don’t know is how a person can look at a topic as impossible to encapsulate as child migrants moving across the U.S.-Mexico border and then know how to write a picture book on the subject.... when I read To the Other Side by Erika Meza, I was floored. With care and invention, she’s actually managed to tell a migrant story that is both literal and figurative, realistic and metaphorical, and does so with honesty and more than a bit of cleverness.

A gorgeously rendered, heartbreaking look at one family’s immigration experience. Kirkus Kirkus Star review

To The Other Side, written and illustrated by Erika Meza, is an allegorical picture book that gently addresses child and family migration with compassion and empathy. Meza skillfully balances the challenging aspects of the immigrant experience, presenting it as an adventure or game, while acknowledging the emotional complexity behind colorful masks worn by the kids on this journey. Common Sense Media

Yes, this particular story is of crossing from Mexico to the U.S. but with more and more asylum-seeking children from various parts of the world being welcomed into homes and schools in the UK, this book is highly relevant here and wherever else there are immigrants. Strongly recommended for sharing in primary schools to open up discussion. Books for Keeps

Awards:

• Shortlisted for the Yoto Carnegie Medal for Illustration 2024
• Shortlisted for the Jhalak Children's & Young Adult Prize 2024
• Empathy Collection title
• 2024 Inclusive Books for Children

I would share To the Other Side with older primary students aged 10+ and it would be a perfect text for a High School class. There is sure to be a lot of discussion with the group about the story and themes of this book. This is not a book to read and discard. It is a book that needs careful reading and deep thought. The copy I borrowed from a school library is not shelved with their picture books - it is in the non-fiction [325] which is the Dewey number for International Migration. Decisions like this are important and must be based around your library users (staff and students). In my former school, for example, I had a shelving bay with Picture Books for Older readers (Grade 5 and 6) which is where I would place this book.

About the author: Erika Meza was born in Mexico and developed a taste for eclairs in Paris before moving to the UK to teach drawing. She won a scholarship to study in L'Ecole Nationale Superieure des Arts Decoratifs, where she learned to combine bold colour and mark-making with poetry.

Companion books:

Read more about each of these books about crossing the border from Mexico to the US

Above all else, these stories showcase the humanity of the people who risk everything to seek refuge in the United States. More than providing insight into someone else’s reality, in these stories immigrant children can also see their own stories reflected back at them—

stories of fortitude, resilience, joy, and sorrow.

Read more here.

Kirkus Star review

Please take a minute to watch this video of Erika Meza talking about her book. In this radio interview Erika talks about her use of masks in this book. 

Here are other books by Erika Meza:

By chance today I was talking to a friend and she mentioned a former student from my previous school. Take a look at this article written by lawyer and journalist Claire McMullen about the plight of families trying to cross the border from Guatemala into the US. I was thrilled to see her success as a lawyer and journalist and impressed a school kid from suburban Australia is tackling big topics just like the one covered in this book. 

Ties that Bind, Ties that Break by Lensey Namioka

Ailin lives in China. The year is 1911. She is part of a large extended family who still follow old customs. At a very young age she is betrothed to a boy in her neighborhood. She is just four years old and the boy is eight. The other tradition is foot binding. Hanwie's family (her betrothed) cannot accept Ailin if her feet are not bound but Ailin's father is progressive in his thinking, and he agrees her feet do not need to suffer this hideously painful process. He also agrees that his daughter can go to school even though girls do not usually receive education beyond the family. 

Her lack of footbinding means Hanwie is no longer engaged to Ailin but attending school means she is able to learn English. When her father sadly dies her bully uncle takes over control of the family. He has dreadul plans for Ailin so it is time for her to leave. She goes to work for a missionary family taking care of their two young children. By doing this she can no longer visit her family. After three years with the Warners she then travels to America so now her family ties are completely broken.  Go back to the title - ties that bind - foot binding and the binding to traditional customs. Ties that break - her cruel uncle and the way she is no longer fit for marriage with her big feet means she has to break away from her family and their traditional customs. Spoiler alert - there is a very happy ending to the story.

Wikipedia have a very detailed plot summary. 

The metaphor of things bound and unbound is a ribbon winding through this vivid narrative; the story moves swiftly, while Ailin is a brave and engaging heroine whose difficult choices reflect her time and her gender. Kirkus

Namioka weaves in just enough political history to help readers understand the turbulent climate, and her writing is so atmospheric and closely informed that it appears to offer an insider's perspective on a vanished way of life. Narrated by Ailin in flashback, this colorful novel has the force and intensity of a memoir. Publisher's Weekly

I picked this slim book up on a sale table in a large city bookstore. I love to look at price stickers on books like this because you can see how long a particular book has languished on the shop shelves. This book has been waiting since June 2017 for a new owner. Why? The cover is appealing to my eye. I think perhaps this book was placed in the wrong section. First off it has the feel of a biography and secondly, even though it only has 150 pages this book is not suitable for younger children. I would place it in the Young Adult section and recommend it for readers aged 13+. Please note there is a mention of suicide in the narrative. This book was published in 2003 but it is still available. 

Listen to an audio sample. 

Here is an alternate cover:

Companion book:

I am Lupe by Sela Ahosivi-Atiola illustrated by Yani Agustina

"I look different from everyone else. I have curly black hair just like my dad. I have deep brown eyes just like my mum."

"Unlike most of the other kids, I wasn't born here. I was born in a kingdom nestled in the heart of the South Pacific ... "

"What are you? Are you this? Are you that? Do you come from here? Do you come from there?"

My friend adopted her daughter from Bolivia in 1994 and I know she finds questions like these very frustrating and intrusive, and they are real questions she is constantly asked. Lupe was born Tonga. Lupe doesn’t look like the other girls at her Australian school. The feelings at the heart of this book will be recognised by many children and hopefully this book will also build empathy in others. 

Lupe decides to ask her mum - and she offers some quiet wisdom. 

"You are many wonderful things." A daughter, a big sister, a friend. You are kind, you are fearless and brave and smart. You are special and beautiful.

"You are enough."

In a world where snap judgements are all too often based on appearance, Lupe and her parents teach valuable lessons around the rich and complex nature of identity. Some things cannot be seen but it is those qualities within that truly define a person. A Word about Books

I Am Lupe is a warm, gentle, reassuring picture book with a quiet resonance that’s bound to shift how its readers perceive themselves and others. For readers who see themselves in Lupe – who feel or are made to feel different from their peers for whatever reason – this book has a beautiful and vital message of self-acceptance and self-belief. Better Reading

Messages of diversity, acceptance and knowing your good points, all essential to the identity each person claims, come through with simplicity and warmth. Beautiful full-page images appear on a double spread with one side accommodating the text. The illustrations are in vibrant colours reflecting the children’s emotions. Even without the words, it is easy to identify what the characters are thinking and saying. This book offers a superb opportunity to open discussion between adults and children, teachers and students, on difference and diversity, as that is the pride of this wonderful country.  Kids' Book Review

Sela Ahosivi-Atiola is a Tongan Australian writer, early childhood educator and mother, based in Sydney. Here is a brief interview with Sela. Yani Agustina is an illustrator from Singapore. Here are some detailed teachers notes from the publisher web page written by Dr Robyn Sheahan-Bright. 

I am certain we will see this book listed for our 2024 CBCA awards either in the Picture Book or Early Childhood categories.

Take a look at my Pinterest entitled "She looks like me". Companion books:

Beautiful

The Day Saida Arrived

And here are some books I would like to see: