Review by Booklist Review
When war begins in their country, a girl and her mother leave behind all they hold dear and move to a new home in another country. The child describes her previous life in a big city and recollects the star-shaped cardboard lamp that used to light up her family's apartment kitchen window, shining in the evenings like a beacon on her walk home from music lessons. Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award--nominated author-illustrator Desnitskaya's spare text captures the young narrator's feelings of displacement with poetic immediacy. Short sentences cut to the heart: "It's not like home here. A different language. A different apartment. A different view from the window." Yellow-hued scenes, glowing with warmth and a sense of security, depict the child's past and appear in striking contrast to the starkly gray present reality of barren rooms and indecipherable words all around her. Slowly, color and connection return to the child's world, along with a newly constructed cardboard guiding star. A reflective author's endnote details personal emigration experiences leaving Russia upon the outbreak of war in Ukraine. Encouraging empathy and understanding, this illuminating picture book offers a realistic account of finding oneself in a new place and shines a light on the healing power of hope.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
This personal-feeling story of a mother and child who leave their home when a war begins opens with views of the large city the pale-skinned pair once called home, its golden windows beaming warmth onto snow-covered streets. "There was a star-shaped cardboard lamp in our apartment's kitchen," the child recalls, "in the evening, I could recognize our window from afar." In their new city, rain pelts down amid fluorescent lights: "A different language. A different apartment. A different view.... Even Mom is different. Even I'm different." One day, Mom comes home with a kit to make a star-shaped cardboard lamp--one that glows from the window the same way the one in their old apartment did. "After that, everything around us became a little less different." Gradually, beauty and hope reveal themselves; one evening, a new moon hangs over the hills as parent and child sit on a curb eating ice cream. Straightforward, heartfelt words and thin-lined, fully imagined drawings from Desnitskaya (On the Edge of the World) give tender voice to one child's refugee experience. An author's note concludes. Background characters are portrayed with various skin tones. Ages 5--9. Agent: Debbie Bibo, Debbie Bibo Agency. (Aug.)
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Review by School Library Journal Review
K-Gr 3--Desnitskaya (On the Edge of the World) once again takes on the topic of home. It's a special place. A girl and her family had a nice life in a city that they loved "until the war came." Coming home from music lessons, the main character always looked for the light of a cardboard star to welcome her home in the early evening hours. After they leave their home and move to another country, everything is different; this loss of familiarity is aptly captured in melancholy illustrations with somber tones. The illustrations are especially effective in capturing the adjustment process. At first the language is indecipherable--the chaos of early days in a new place--but a few spreads later the words become intelligible. Through all the fear and the sadness, light shines through in beautiful yellow and gold tones. This title has a universality that will bring comfort to anyone forced to leave home, regardless of reason; the message is clear that while things will always be different, there is still reason to hope in the future. VERDICT A beautiful tale of loss and adjustment; for those who have never had to leave home, perhaps a lesson in insight and empathy. Highly recommended for all collections.--John Scott
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Review by Horn Book Review
Fleeing war, a mother and child leave their country, city, and cheerful apartment with a star-shaped cardboard lamp in its window. In the new country everything is different: apartment, language, food, view, even the mother and the narrator. "It's not like home here," the child says, looking at the characterless, bleak apartment and the streets with their incomprehensible signs. But then the two create a new star lamp just like the one in their old home, "and after that, everything around us became a little less different." In verbal and visual counterpoint, Desnitskaya illuminates the storyteller's spare, potent remarks. For example, on the left of one spread is the old, comfy window seat and view, suffused with the star lamp's golden light; on the right is the new place, stark under a bare lightbulb. (One old-life illustration shows a second adult, now missing.) The quality of light -- golden warmth versus blue-screen coldness -- makes visible the sense of alienation and displacement and, in turn, the child's growing familiarity with their new home. Desnitskaya offers no quick, false transformation, but rather an adaptation, an adjustment. That one familiar thing, the star lamp, can't bring home back, but it can make things "a little less different." This succinct, effective story with its clear lines, compact figures, and visual language is as much an appealing graphic tale as it is a picture book. Deirdre F. BakerSeptember/October 2024 p.47 (c) Copyright 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.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Inspired by her family's experiences of leaving Moscow following Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine, Desnitskaya examines the effects of emigration. A mother and child, pale-skinned with reddish hair, have left home. The youngster shares details about the big city they've left behind. A star-shaped cardboard lamp used to hang in the apartment's kitchen window, orienting the child while the little one headed home from music lessons. As war began, "We left for another country. It's not like home here." The language, the food, the view from the bleak new apartment: all unfamiliar. A gifted illustrator, Desnitskaya contrasts past and present in facing spreads with varied color intensities. Prior scenes show the family's contentment as they eat and read in the warm glow of the star lamp. There's a red-haired, light-skinned adult in one scene: Dad? The new city and apartment are unremittingly gray, with shop and street signs depicted in intentionally obscure text. People's word bubbles reveal only scribbles. "Even Mom is different." She bends over her phone, her back to the narrator, effectively personifying the desperate attempt to connect with what--and who--has been left behind. When Mom brings craft supplies home one day, the pair make a cardboard star and rig a lamp for the window. "After that, everything around us became a little less different." Scenes brighten as the city grows more decipherable, and the narrator makes a friend. The blue-and-yellow color palette poignantly hints at Desnitskaya's sympathies. Beautifully crafted and warmly empathetic. (author's note) (Picture book. 5-9) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
