Onjali Q. Rauf

Astory about friendship, kindness, and adventure that is centered within the refugee crisis.

When Ahmet arrives in the narrator’s classroom three weeks after the first day of school, he is silent and doesn’t join all the kids for recess. Weeks later, and with the help of an assistant teacher, he gets additional support to learn English and understand what’s being taught through translation into his native Kurdish. He gradually adjusts to his new environment and shares his displacement show more story from Syria to the U.K. and what happened to his family, from whom he’s been separated. With persistence and kindness, four classmates succeed in becoming Ahmet’s friends. But it is when they learn of an approaching deadline to reunite him with his family that they decide to take action immediately. They plot to engage the queen of Britain herself and end up in newspaper headlines and stirring national debate about refugees. Raúf provides well-crafted addenda about refugees, ways to help, and questions to think about, but readers looking for deep characterization will spot great but lost potential in that most of the novel’s are one-dimensional, presenting only as good or bad people, with the narrator’s group of friends (a multiracial bunch) squarely among the former.

An engaging debut novel that simplifies the refugee experience, crisis, and reaction to it for young readers—consider it a starter book. (Fiction. 9-12)

-Kirkus Review show less

Ten-year-old Aniyah and her little brother Noah wind up in a foster home with Mrs. Iwuchukwu, her adopted daughter Sophie, and foster brothers Ben and Travis, after Aniyah and Noah's dad kill their mum. Aniyah, Noah, Ben, and Travis are all the victims of domestic abuse, but Aniyah doesn't fully remember the last day with her mum; she believes that the noise that she heard was her mum's heart turning into a star. When a new star is reported on TV - a star that's moving - Aniyah knows it's show more her mum, watching over her and Noah, and when a competition is announced to name the star, she knows she has to make sure it has the right name. But simply sending an entry through the website won't do - Aniyah is determined to go to the Royal Observatory itself and speak to the astronomers ("star hunters") there. Thus begins a desperate mission, as Aniyah realizes that she's no longer in London, but outside Oxford - but she has unexpected allies in Ben and Travis, who help plan the mission and insist on accompanying her. Aniyah's absolute determination, and her foster brothers' loyalty and commitment, see them all through to a stellar ending.

Back matter includes a key to the constellations that begin each chapter, an author's note, resources for survivors, and acknowledgments.

Quotes

If I told them the truth, then Ben and Travis might think I was lying or being silly, because that's what people think when they don't want to believe you about something, even when it's true. (36)

"Why are you both helping me so much?" ...
"Because we're foster kids, and foster kids stick together no matter what." (Aniyah and Ben, 102)

[Ben and Travis] had helped me in ways that nobody else had ever helped me before - even though they knew it might get them into trouble. (193) show less

Would you like to read a book where the child in you wants to join the lead characters in their adventure, the parent in you wants to ask the children to be careful as their planned quest is very dangerous, and the human in you is shocked at the brutality of fellow humans? A book where you laugh out loud, sob silent tears, feel angry, frustrated, relieved, afraid? A book you can share with your child and yet enjoy it yourself? Your search stops here.

Aniyah is a little 10 year old girl who show more finds herself, along with her 5 year old brother Noah, in foster care. Her memory is hazy about how she reached Mrs. Iwuchukwu's foster house. All she knows is that her mother has become a star in the sky and her dad is looking for her. When the news channels report a previously-undiscovered star that seems to be moving across the skies, Aniyah knows that it's her mom trying to reach out to her. And when there's a worldwide competition to name the star, she knows that the star deserves her mother's name. After all, her mother's heart powers the star! Thus begins Aniyah's adventure along with two of the other children in foster care, Ben and Trevor.

The book is written for children, no doubt in that. There are many hilarious scenes, there is a whole load of adventure, there are many dangers that the children overcome, and there is a happy ending. (Every child deserves a book with a happy ending, right? Why let them learn too early how much life actually sucks?) At the same time, you, the adult reading the book, can sense the serious undertone that the children can't see, the hidden happenings that Aniyah seems unable to interpret correctly but leave you stupefied. You want to reach out and help Aniyah but you can't. All you can do is let your heart break again and again because you know that the fictional pain depicted in the book is a fact for many children.

I loved Aniyah, Noah, Trevor and Ben. Of the five children in the book, these four show a whole range of positive qualities that little readers will enjoy. The fifth child, Sophie, plays the mandatory negative character who hides her true emotions under a facade of aggression. But one lady I admired from the bottom of my heart was the foster caregiver, Mrs. Iwuchukwu. As that name sounded very unique, I googled its origin. Turns out that Iwuchukwu is an Igbo name meaning "God's convenant". And Mrs. Iwuchukwu is just like God to these unwanted children. I've been a parent for so many years and consider parenting as OJT (On the Job Training); you learn every day. But in this one book, Mrs. Iwuchukwu had so much to teach me. I was simply awestruck by her character.

If you have any 9 aged child in your life, give them a hug and give them this book. And you yourself don't forget to read it. Keep tissues handy.

Trigger warning: parental death

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This is a sweet, lovely story with a eager, kind protagonist. Appropriate for young children despite the heavy topic, it is hadled with gentleness and grace. I cried twice.