Stepping Stones / حَصى الطُرُقات

Rama wakes with the call of her family's rooster, laughing, playing, and spending her days surrounded by the love of her family. When war comes to Syria, Rama's happy, peaceful life shrinks, food becomes scarce, and bombs fall ever closer, until her family must leave their home. They walk "to the end of the earth," climb aboard a little boat, and are battered by the roiling sea, saying prayers for those who didn't make it any further. Ruurs writes purely and warmly, with the text set in both English and Raheem's Arabic translation on each page, of a family who become refugees. She deftly conveys the happiness of peaceful childhood, then the confusion and the fears born of war and migration, and the relief and curiosity of arriving at a new home--and the uncertainty whether it will be forever. Artist Badr still lives in his birthplace of Latakia, Syria. Lacking resources, he began using the stones he collects from the sea to depict stories of his compatriots with love and compassion. Each illustration is masterful, with Badr's placement of stones as careful as brush strokes, creating figures positioned to tell the whole story without the benefit of facial expressions: dancing, cradling, working; burdened, in danger, at peace. A foreword describes how the book came to be. An astonishing book that allows the humanity of refugees to speak louder than politics and introduces readers to one of Syria's incredible artists. (Picture book. 4-8) COPYRIGHT(1) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Starred review from August 15, 2016
Rama wakes with the call of her family's rooster, laughing, playing, and spending her days surrounded by the love of her family. When war comes to Syria, Rama's happy, peaceful life shrinks, food becomes scarce, and bombs fall ever closer, until her family must leave their home. They walk "to the end of the earth," climb aboard a little boat, and are battered by the roiling sea, saying prayers for those who didn't make it any further. Ruurs writes purely and warmly, with the text set in both English and Raheems Arabic translation on each page, of a family who become refugees. She deftly conveys the happiness of peaceful childhood, then the confusion and the fears born of war and migration, and the relief and curiosity of arriving at a new homeand the uncertainty whether it will be forever. Artist Badr still lives in his birthplace of Latakia, Syria. Lacking resources, he began using the stones he collects from the sea to depict stories of his compatriots with love and compassion. Each illustration is masterful, with Badr's placement of stones as careful as brush strokes, creating figures positioned to tell the whole story without the benefit of facial expressions: dancing, cradling, working; burdened, in danger, at peace. A foreword describes how the book came to be. An astonishing book that allows the humanity of refugees to speak louder than politics and introduces readers to one of Syria's incredible artists. (Picture book. 4-8)

COPYRIGHT(2016) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

March 1, 2017
Ordinary beach stones were used to make the three-dimensional collages in this arresting picture book. Arranged into human figures (and trees, flowers, and animals) by Syrian artist Badr, these commonplace objects compose art depicting the harrowing journeys that many present-day Syrians undertake to escape violence. Badr's stone arrangements are particularly effective in conveying the back-bending weight of the belongings that refugees carry with them; the stones' sandy, gray colors also evoke the hot, arid land these displaced people are forced to walk through. Ruurs's free-verse text, in English and Arabic, chronicles one specific journey through the eyes of a fictional girl, Rama, whose family must flee its war-torn village. By journey's end, Rama's feet feel like the rocks / on which we walked. / My legs were trees, rooted to the soil. Ruurs's foreword provides information about this book's unusual origins. Stone by stone, step by step, it all adds up to a memorable look at what it means to leave one's home in search of a bright new future. debora pearson

(Copyright 2017 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

October 1, 2016
Grades 3-6 Quiet, intense nostalgia permeates the fictional Rama's recollection of her family's life in Syria before war forced them to flee and start over in another country. Her story is all too common. Ordinary lives are curtailed at first by political oppression If we're not allowed to sing our songs, / . . . are we truly free? and then by violent warfare. Written in English and Arabic, the tight blank verse contains just enough detail for readers to imagine Rama's journey with tangible immediacy: a river of strangers in search of a place / to be free, to love, and laugh . . . / A river of people in search of peace. Perhaps more than by the text, readers will be fascinated by the stone-collage illustrations created by Syrian artist Badr, who arranges expressive tableaux of people formed entirely of rocks and pebbles. On every spread, a round pebble hovers over the refugees, providing light, like the moon or sun, as well as hope. A unique offering that will open eyes and soften hearts.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)