Source: From Tundra Books in exchange for an honest review. This in no way alters my opinion or review.
The Story Boat by Kyo Maclear and illustrated by Rashin Kheiriyeh
Publisher: Tundra Books
Publication Date: February 4, 2020
Format: Hardback
Rating:
Goodreads Synopsis:
When you have to leave behind almost everything you know, where can you call home? Sometimes home is simply where we are: here. A picture book about the refugee experience through a child's eyes.
When a little girl and her younger brother are forced along with their family to flee the home they've always known, they must learn to make a new home for themselves -- wherever they are. And sometimes the smallest things -- a cup, a blanket, a lamp, a flower, a story -- can become a port of hope in a terrible storm. As the refugees travel onward toward an uncertain future, they are buoyed up by their hopes, dreams and the stories they tell -- a story that will carry them perpetually forward.
Review:
The Story Boat is a children's book that is about imagination and adventure, but is it also about refugees traveling. This book is absolutely beautiful and poetic in its writing.
If you don't know that this book is about refugees or if that concept is way to advance for your little readers, that is ok. Some might say that this is children's book written for adults, and they are probably right, but the whimsical nature of taking ordinary objects and making them magical and using your imagination is something that all young kids do and understand, so they will understand that aspect of the book.
The illustration throughout are simple yet fun and inviting and the items they describe are everyday items, cups, blankets etc. The words are lyrical and poetic and they had me, as an adult swooning over them, and for a children's book, that is a feat. I loved this book. It was beautifully written, beautifully illustrated, and a holds very strong message about the power of imagination through a multitude of circumstances.
