Review by Booklist Review
*Starred Review* Based on interviews she conducted with families at an Italian refugee center, Sanna's debut picture book uses powerful yet fanciful imagery to tell the story of one family's flight from danger in an unnamed country. In a bright palette and playful visual style belying the serious subject matter, the story begins on a beach, where the family of four happily plays. War comes in the form of a pitch-black wave attacking the shore, knocking down sand castles and causing havoc. That oppressive black wave continues inland, taking their father and following them home. The now-smaller family then sets off in a series of vehicles, headed for a land with high mountains and friendly creatures. The landscapes, animals, and people they meet on their journey begin to resemble fairy tales a large bearded man angrily leans over a wall, practically swallowing it with his huge body, to turn them away from a border which helps soften some of the inherent danger. The straightforward text from the children's perspective contrasts compellingly with images of the mother, who cries when they're not looking. By the end, the family has still not reached safety, and a train on the endpapers emphasizes that their journey is ongoing. Simultaneously heartbreaking, scary, and brightly hopeful, this timely tale with simply captivating artwork will spur little ones to ask questions that lack easy answers.--Hunter, Sarah Copyright 2016 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Storybook imagery-foreboding woods, looming giants, and creatures of forest and sea-collides with desperately real circumstances as a family seeks haven from encroaching war. As Sanna's debut opens, a family of four builds a vast sand castle city at the beach as inky waters pour in ominously. Those waves transform into swiping, grabbing hands on the following page ("Every day bad things started happening around us"), and the children's father is soon killed. After the family decides to leave for a faraway country, Sanna traces their long journey, devoting attention to the children's reluctance to leave behind familiar surroundings and the sheer difficulty of their effort. "The further we go... the more we leave behind," she writes as the family switches from vehicle to vehicle, sometimes hiding beneath fruit or clay jugs. Sanna's crisp-edged, screenprintlike forms strike a careful balance between representing visceral dangers and offering tiny measures of hope. Given the ongoing refugee crisis in Europe and immigration debates in the U.S. and abroad, Sanna's story is well poised to spark necessary conversations about the costs of war. Ages 3-7. (Sept.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
Gr 1-4-A young child recounts her experiences as war comes to her once-peaceful nation, claims her father's life, and forces her mother to give up everything they know to seek a better, safer future for her children. The innocent voice and dramatic graphic-style illustrations tell a harrowing, haunting, yet hopeful story of a family's search for a place to call home. © Copyright 2016. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review
In a piercing first-person account, a child tells of a harrowing journey with a sibling and their mother. Sanna's stylized illustrations are both captivating and unsettling; specifics of the setting are never established (details suggest an Islamic-world origin and a Nordic destination), and that intentional lack of specificity adds disquiet. Still, the story is not without hope. An author's note invites real-world connections. (c) Copyright 2017. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
