Library of Clean Reads: homelessness

Saturday, April 22, 2017

My Beautiful Birds by Suzanne Del Rizzo (Review)

Both my son and I, and also Sandra, who is part of our review team, had a chance to review this beautiful book. It's a moving, gentle story of one refugee's experience in the Syrian civil war.

Book Details:

My Beautiful Birds by Suzanne Del Rizzo
ISBN: 9781772780123
Published: March 8, 2017
Published by Pajama Press
Hardcover picture book: 32 pages
For children ages 6 – 10
Content rating: G

Book Description:

Sami, the Syrian skyline is full of smoke. The boy follows his family and all his neighbours in a long line, as they trudge through the sands and hills to escape the bombs that have destroyed their homes. But all Sami can think of is his pet pigeons―will they escape too? When they reach a refugee camp and are safe at last, everyone settles into the tent city. But though the children start to play and go to school again, Sami can’t join in. When he is given paper and paint, all he can do is smear his painting with black. He can’t forget his birds and what his family has left behind.

One day a canary, a dove, and a rose finch fly into the camp. They flutter around Sami and settle on his outstretched arms. For Sami it is one step in a long healing process at last.

A gentle yet moving story of refugees of the Syrian civil war, My Beautiful Birds illuminates the ongoing crisis as it affects its children. It shows the reality of the refugee camps, where people attempt to pick up their lives and carry on. And it reveals the hope of generations of people as they struggle to redefine home.

Buy the Book:

Amazon.ca ~ Pajama Press ~ Chapters Indigo

Add to Goodreads

Our Review:

Reviewed by Laura Fabiani and Son

My Beautiful Birds is a touching story about a Syrian boy who flees with his family from his burning city to trek to a refugee camp. Sami is a bird lover and he keeps pigeons, but he is now worried as he leaves all he ever knew and loved behind. His father assures him that his birds have escaped too.

My Beautiful Birds is an important book, written and illustrated by Suzanne Del Rizzo when she was motivated by her research for resources to explain the Syrian Cival War to her own children. It's a story that any child who loves animals can understand. Sami misses his birds and is saddened by what has happened even as his family adjusts to refugee life if the city-like camp. He finally begins the healing process when four birds appear and Sami begins to take care of them.

My son and I both loved this story and the dimensional illustrations that the author created through Plasticine, polymer clay and other mixed media. The birds especially are so detailed, they come alive and seem to pop out of the pages. Every page was a delight to explore. Truly a work of art. Children (and adults) of all ages will appreciate these illustrations.

Although this is a story about war, it is hopeful and uplifting. It helps young ones to understand what is happening in our world and how we all have the same needs. A variety of emotions are explored in this book: sadness, fear, anger, hope and compassion. It's a book that can open up dialogue between parent and child.

My Beautiful Birds should be included in all school libraries. It's a keeper in our home. And has made it on our list of Best Reads of 2017.

My Review:

Reviewed by Sandra Olshaski

My heart was so touched by this poignant story of Sami, a little Syrian boy who must leave his home and his beloved pigeons to flee to a refugee camp. Though camp life becomes a "new normal" for the refugees, Sami only begins to heal emotionally when 4 birds – a canary, a dove, a rose finch, and a pigeon arrive in the camp. His feelings of sadness, fear, displacement are gradually replaced with a feeling of security and safety.

The textured illustrations in the book are beautiful, original artwork created with polymer clay, Plasticine, and other media, producing an almost 3-D effect to my eye. My favourite illustration is the overview of the refugee camp.

Millions of people have been displaced, including children. Millions are still in refugee camps. At the present time its Syrian refugees that we hear about in the media. This book sheds light on their plight, their ongoing battles to cope and how war affects children. It's a gentle, moving book that parents can use to help their own children to understand the world in which they live.

This talented Canadian author has produced a sensitive, moving account of what life is like in traumatic, emotionally-wrenching events experienced by so many people.

I highly recommend My Beautiful Birds.

Our disclaimer: Thanks to the publisher for sending us this book for review. We were not compensated in any other way, nor told how to rate or review this product.

About the Author:

Suzanne Del Rizzo began her career in picture books as the illustrator of the award-winning Skink on the Brink. With My Beautiful Birds, she launches herself as both author and illustrator for the first time. Suzanne’s dimensional illustrations use Plasticine, polymer clay, and other mixed media to bring rich texture and imagination to her books, the most recent of which was Sky Pig. She lives in Oakville, Ontario.

Connect with the author: Website ~ Twitter ~ Facebook ~ Instagram

Saturday, September 24, 2011

Kid Konnection: From funny to thoughtful

The following books were a hit in my house this last month. One is about two hilarious rodents who are always hungry, the second about learning what can help our bodies function better, and the third about a homeless man with a big heart.

The Vole Brothers by Roslyn Schwartz
(Rated: C)
Owlkids
ISBN: 978-1926818832
Published Aug 30, 2011
Harcover, 32 pages

My son declared it “the cutest book ever” and loved the colored pencil drawings. He's right! The Vole brothers are simply adorable!

This is the fun tale of two ravenous rodents who will stop at nothing to get their tummies filled, even daring to outsmart a fat cat to get some delicious food. While we giggled at the tenacity and antics of the Vole brothers we also felt the suspense build as we wondered if they were finally going to get what they were after.

The dialogue is written in speech bubbles giving this book a little of a comic book feel. I was pleasantly surprised that although the text is very simple, the story is rich because of the illustrations and the onomatopoeia (words that represent the sound they imitate) such as beep, crunch and slurp that are spread throughout the book.

This is a feel-good, funny book with the message to never give up. Parents will get a kick out of reading it to their youngsters as much as the kids will enjoy the vivacity of those lovable rodents. We loved reading it together. Highly recommended.

Disclosure: Thanks to the publisher for sending me this book for review. I was not compensated in any other way, nor told how to rate or review this product.

What Do You Use to Help Your Body? by Jewel Kats (Rated: C)
Loving Healing Press
ISBN: 978-1615990825
Published May 28, 2011
Softcover, 28 pages

Having worked with children and adults with disabilities, I am always interested in books that feature ways for children to learn more about other people's disabilities. This book proved to be one of those books. It allows for parents to open up a discussion on being different.

Maggie goes out on a walk with her mom, who has made it a special walk because she has arranged for Maggie to meet people who use different things to help their bodies. My children thought it was interesting because they learned about assistive devices, such as hearing aids, prosthesis, guide dogs and communication boards--something my children thought was cool. In addition to meeting people with various disabilities, they are from different cultures, too, adding realism to the story. We began to talk about people we knew who used assistive devices such as my children's Grandma who wears a hearing aid.

Children have a natural curiosity about devices but sometimes seeing a person very different from them may be scary. I remember working in a school with a boy who had an artificial leg he shlepped to school every day and put on so he could learn to walk without his wheelchair. The kids in his class avoided him simply because that leg freaked them out until the day we got the whole class to sit in a circle and listen to the boy explain all about his leg. Then suddenly it was the coolest thing! The kids now wanted to touch it and see how it worked.

I wish I had had this book to introduce those kids to assistive devices because I think it's a good resource for educators, especially those who have disabled kids integrated in their classrooms. It is simple to read, shows insight on the feelings of disabled people, and serves as an educational tool as well. Older kids would need a book with more depth but this one is ideal for the 4-8 year-old target audience.

Disclosure: Thanks to the publisher for sending me this book for review. I was not compensated in any other way, nor told how to rate or review this product.

Abe's Lucky Day by Jill Warren (Rated: C)
Outskirts Press
ISBN: 978-1432773052
Published July 7, 2011
Softcover, 32 pages

I was happy to win this book and share it with my children. It exposed my children to what life is like for someone with no home. It opened up a discussion about homelessness and what it means to be kind.

The story is about a homeless man named Abe. No explanation is given about why he is homeless but only that his family lives far away and he is all alone in a big, noisy city. I appreciated this because it left little room for racial prejudice. Abe is a kind, considerate man who helps others even when the majority may think that in some of the situations it would have been understandable had he acted self-serving. Again, I appreciated this because it made me reflect on the Holocaust survivors who had been kind to their cellmates even at great cost to themselves.

Abe gets a chance to change his life and he is grateful. He finds himself lucky not for this reason but because he had the opportunity to help several people throughout the course of his day. The illustrations are simple but colorful and suggestive.

This book was fruit for thought for me and my children. The sadness of Abe's homelessness was tapered by his generosity toward others, his positive outlook despite his grim life situation, and the hopeful tone of the book. I found this a deeply reflective and well-written story.

Disclosure: Thanks to the author for sending me this book for review. I was not compensated in any other way, nor told how to rate or review this product.

Every Saturday, Booking Mama hosts a feature called Kid Konnection—a regular weekend feature about anything related to children's books. If you'd like to participate in Kid Konnection and share a post about anything related to children's books (picture, middle grade, or young adult) from the past week, visit Booking Mama.