Wonderful, picturesque book on the trauma of war, the fragility of life, and the love of the written world. It is a battle cry for preserving your heritage and a reminder that bombs can not destroy the human. ( )

Good book shedding light on immigration to the United States. Easy to read for students of all ages. ( )

This is a good book for intermediate students. It tells the story of a man named Peter who had to leave his home country due to the dangers and threats of war. While he and his father are leaving, his father places a special book that tells the story of their people into an iron treasure box. Peter’s father passes away, and Peter carries the treasure box with him, burying it at a small town and returning when he is an adult to uncover it and place it into a library for others to read. This was a helpful book because it shows the reality that refugees may face when leaving their home countries, it was a sad book, but it contains very powerful and important concepts. I would use this book by reading it aloud to students to show them another example of what others may endure and to show the importance of keeping stories from history alive and valued.

for older kids - war, displacement, destruction - then hope ( )

As a boy, Peter and his father experience the aftermath of a war which destroyed not only their homes but, their public library as well. The most prized possession Peter’s father felt they had left was the only book that survived in the library. At his tender age, Peter didn’t realize how important that book was to his father. The book was about their people and Peter’s father in trusted him with it so that it would remain safe. The medium used for the illustration was a collage of pages that were most likely what remained of the library books in their language. Interesting enough, Freya Blackwood also uses white outlining and shadowing when she wants to emphasize drawn images to the readers. This technique instantly draws your focus in. Though most of the illustrations were colored in dull depressing shades, her technique made a big difference. ( )