You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
4.02 AVERAGE
4.02 AVERAGE
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
What an important book for our kids to read. I recommend this book for Grade 6 kids and up. There are some incidents that occur that I believe may be a little hard for anyone younger than this to understand, let alone comprehend.
Subhi has been born in a detention camp and knows of no other life. He is waiting for his father to arrive and take them to a better place. In the meantime, we get to know his family, his friends and the way that their lives play out through his eyes. We are also introduced to someone outside the wire, someone with more opportunities than Subhi but who needs his eyes to help her read her mother's journal. This is where a friendship begins and Subhi starts to really live his life, instead of just existing.
With so much in the media about the detention camps these days, I believe that this book will be for kids, what Diary of a Young Girl, I Am David, The Silver Sword and When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit were for my generation. A way to explain a very hard subject matter with kids from the age of 11+. As long as we discuss the issues in this book with our children, they will come to a greater understanding of what is happening with the people who live behind the wire and why there are so many people who are trying to speak out for these people. It gives them a voice that they have never had before. It shows them for the strong, courageous people that they are.
Beautifully written, thank you Zana Fraillon for an insight in to a world that we cannot see, yet we know exists.
Subhi has been born in a detention camp and knows of no other life. He is waiting for his father to arrive and take them to a better place. In the meantime, we get to know his family, his friends and the way that their lives play out through his eyes. We are also introduced to someone outside the wire, someone with more opportunities than Subhi but who needs his eyes to help her read her mother's journal. This is where a friendship begins and Subhi starts to really live his life, instead of just existing.
With so much in the media about the detention camps these days, I believe that this book will be for kids, what Diary of a Young Girl, I Am David, The Silver Sword and When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit were for my generation. A way to explain a very hard subject matter with kids from the age of 11+. As long as we discuss the issues in this book with our children, they will come to a greater understanding of what is happening with the people who live behind the wire and why there are so many people who are trying to speak out for these people. It gives them a voice that they have never had before. It shows them for the strong, courageous people that they are.
Beautifully written, thank you Zana Fraillon for an insight in to a world that we cannot see, yet we know exists.
I honestly don't know what I think about this book! I thought some things were confusing and strange but other things I really liked and thought were important to read about.
Let's start with what I liked. I liked the look at a detention center for refugees. The conditions were horrible, and it makes me sad to think that anyone seeking asylum and fleeing their country may end up in similar conditions. It's horrible that they're known by number, and not by name. It's sad and horrible the way they are treated, and all they want is a better life. But they are treated horribly, all because of where they're from or what they believe in. People like Subhi and his family deserve so much better than that.
I felt for Subhi, but there were things that took me out of the book. The Night Sea didn't make sense to me, and Subhi's talking duck didn't make sense to me either. It seemed like they were Subhi's way of dealing with what was going on, and I get that, since the detention center was a horrible place. But it took me out of what was going on, and was really distracting. It was imaginative, but it did not work for me at all.
We really should question why they're treated like criminals, and why they're in detention centers for so long. I'm not sure how old Subhi is, but it seemed like he was born in the detention center. I'd say he's around 10 or so, since this is a middle grade book, and I find insane and ridiculous that he's been living there for so long. The system is broken if refugees/those seeking asylum are living in detention centers for that long. There has to be a better way to handle it.
I didn't really care for Jimmie's story. It's odd to me that she couldn't read, and I found myself skimming over her mother's book when she and Subhi would read it together. Also, how on earth were they able to meet? It seemed odd that she'd be able to walk up to the fence. She sort of faded in the background (at least for me) but they did seem to have some sort of bond. We see how she learns how horrible things are for Subhi, and all of those in the detention center, and for Subhi, he gets a connection to the outside world, and a way for people to see the horrible conditions he, and others like him, have to live in.
It was a hard book for me to get into, and it started off really slow. It felt like things continued to move slowly, and while I knew it wasn't going to be action-packed, I still wanted something to really capture my attention. But nothing really did.
Still, I think it's a book that EVERYONE should read. It's an important book, and the world does need more books like this one.
My Rating: 3 stars. I liked it, but there were some things that took away from what Subhi experienced in the detention center.
Let's start with what I liked. I liked the look at a detention center for refugees. The conditions were horrible, and it makes me sad to think that anyone seeking asylum and fleeing their country may end up in similar conditions. It's horrible that they're known by number, and not by name. It's sad and horrible the way they are treated, and all they want is a better life. But they are treated horribly, all because of where they're from or what they believe in. People like Subhi and his family deserve so much better than that.
I felt for Subhi, but there were things that took me out of the book. The Night Sea didn't make sense to me, and Subhi's talking duck didn't make sense to me either. It seemed like they were Subhi's way of dealing with what was going on, and I get that, since the detention center was a horrible place. But it took me out of what was going on, and was really distracting. It was imaginative, but it did not work for me at all.
We really should question why they're treated like criminals, and why they're in detention centers for so long. I'm not sure how old Subhi is, but it seemed like he was born in the detention center. I'd say he's around 10 or so, since this is a middle grade book, and I find insane and ridiculous that he's been living there for so long. The system is broken if refugees/those seeking asylum are living in detention centers for that long. There has to be a better way to handle it.
I didn't really care for Jimmie's story. It's odd to me that she couldn't read, and I found myself skimming over her mother's book when she and Subhi would read it together. Also, how on earth were they able to meet? It seemed odd that she'd be able to walk up to the fence. She sort of faded in the background (at least for me) but they did seem to have some sort of bond. We see how she learns how horrible things are for Subhi, and all of those in the detention center, and for Subhi, he gets a connection to the outside world, and a way for people to see the horrible conditions he, and others like him, have to live in.
It was a hard book for me to get into, and it started off really slow. It felt like things continued to move slowly, and while I knew it wasn't going to be action-packed, I still wanted something to really capture my attention. But nothing really did.
Still, I think it's a book that EVERYONE should read. It's an important book, and the world does need more books like this one.
My Rating: 3 stars. I liked it, but there were some things that took away from what Subhi experienced in the detention center.
Sad and beautiful. A reminder of the power of story. I couldn’t stop reading this book.
Powerful and devastating and very timely book about the refugee crisis.
dark
emotional
hopeful
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This is an amazing book that shines a spotlight on an event that has been largely ignored and passed over in the media: the inhumane abuse and genocide of the Rohingya people in Myanmar, formerly Burma. Subhi was born in the Australian detention center his family had been in for the past nine years. Tent life is all he has ever known, but when a sparrow shows up in his family's tent, changes follow that disrupt Subhi's life in good and horrific ways. This is a must read!
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
This is deffinitely a great book and would entirely recommend to anyone looking for something to read. I read this book with my friends over the course of a month and we could all thouroughly agree that this is a really execellent book. I love how the book is also written from the perspective of two entirely different people with completely opposite lives.