Part 1: Omar Mohammed has lived in a Kenyan refugee camp for most of his life ever since his town was attacked during the war. He lives in a small tent with his little brother, Hassan. He and Hassan have been together since the beginning. Their refugee camp has tons of people in it, and they try to live life as normally as possible. But that's not an easy thing to do when you're a refugee. You never have enough to eat, you have nightmares at night, nobody has money, and so on. But at least Omar has his friends and Hassan who by the way has a disability. He cannot speak. The only word he ever says is "Hooyo". "Mama." When Omar has the opportunity to get an education while inside the camp, he must decide what is more important: education or taking care of his nonverbal brother. Omar learns that he shouldn't underestimate his little brother and that if he really wants to do what is best for Hassan, he should go to school. This ends up being a great idea because Omar learns that he loves learning! He also makes plenty of friends. When things get complicated, and Hassan runs away, Omar thinks that he must quit school because if he hadn't been so focused on his studies, Hassan wouldn't have felt left out. But he soon learns that he shouldn't give up because after all if he wants to get a better life for himself and his brother, education is the best choice. Part Two: Two years later, 13-year-old Omar is now in secondary school! Yippee! And he still loves to learn. He is determined to keep up his studies and watch over his brother even though things are changing. One of his classmates is now married and has a baby on the way. Another one of his classmates has to deal with a father who enjoys crushing spirits just because he never got picked by the UN to get resettled to Canada, or Australia, or America. America. The country everyone is talking about. Everything is better in America. Everyone has big houses and fancy cars. You'll get a great job there! It is the dream of many refugees. Everybody hopes that they make the weekly list so they can get interviewed and potentially picked to go to America. Before, Omar didn't think America was the best choice for him. He wanted to go back to Somalia to find his mother and become a farmer. Those hopes are behind him now. He is focusing on the future rather than worrying about the past. And to Omar's surprise, he and one of his best friends make it on the list to get interviewed by the UN! Great! Omar and Hassan sit down to be interviewed and Omar has to relive the days of his scary past, and he learns more about himself through it. He waits and waits for his next interview to come around, but nothing happens. Meanwhile, his friend that also gotten chosen on the list has gone through many interviews already! She and her family have been selected to go to Canada! This upsets Omar, and he pushes away everybody because of his anger. Why wasn't he picked? What did he do wrong? What happens now? It seemed like a refugee's only job is to wait. Part 3: 4 years later, 17-year-old Omar is back to his usual self. He's got his friends by his side and he is one of the lucky few that get to attend high school. He's still a refugee, and he's forgotten all about that silly dream of being resettled by now. Until he gets news that he is going to have his second resettlement interview. Hope starts coming back to Omar. After the second interview more follow and Omar gets a letter saying that he and Hassan have been selected to go to America. It's a miracle! Although Omar has considered the refugee camp his home, and he doesn't want to leave his friends behind, he knows that this is what is best. He just needs to take things one step at a time and have hope, just like he has through the years. This is a great book and I give it 5 stars. The pictures and humor, and the overall storyline was amazing. I like how it was told in a graphic novel rather than a chapter book. It makes it more interesting.
Aw, thanks!Almost 3 years ago
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