When Stars Are Scattered: (National Book Award Finalist)

This book was absolutely beautiful. The story is powerful, emotional, and full of hope. It helped me see the world through new eyes and made me appreciate courage and kindness even more. The illustrations are lovely, and the message stays with you long after you finish reading. I wish I could give it 10 stars — it truly deserves it!

My 7 year old daughter devoured this book in one night! She loved it so much and declared it her new favorite book (she’s read hundreds). It’s beautiful too.

Amazing story and made my daughter so emotional. She has reread this book so many times.

This book is incredible, and it gives insight into being a refugee that every person - adults and kids! - should read and learn about. The graphic novel format allows us to see what live is like along with reading about it. I highly recommend for all ages! I was an English major and work as a reading tutor. Graphic novels like this are an excellent way to learn about the world and is a valuable reading material!

This is a a beautiful story about two Somalian refugee brothers who have not given up hope on finding their mother or being reassigned to America. It’s a story about human grit and resilience that is difficult to really hit home for many American children, but the stunning illustrations carry this message through-out the story. My 9-year-old struggled to get into the first chapter, but when I sat down and read it to her, she was hooked. We almost finished the entire book in two reading sessions. This book gave me an opportunity to expose my daughter to diversity and examine the conditions of her own life. During this quarantine pandemic, my daughter has had to face some difficult changes in our family structure and sell her home. This book was a lesson to her to hold on to the ones she loves, and remember how lucky she is to be sleeping in a soft bed, eating nutritious, abundant food, and receiving free quality education. My daughter was particularly stunned about the refugee girls who don’t have choices about whom they marry and whether or not they go to school. I whole-heartedly recommend this book to any graphic novel enthusiast, or just anyone. Parents, read it to your child and talk with them about the similarities and differences of their life to Omar and Hassan’s. Thank you, Omar, for sharing your life story with the world and for organizing Refugee Strong so we can help. Please, Jamieson, find more diverse stories like this to capture and I will buy every one of them.

This book is so good it’s a grafic novel and it’s about a real thing that happened in real life FYI it’s a little sad😞

It’s a memoir in graphic novel format, and I love how bright and vivid the colors are.⁠ ⁠ Omar and his brother have been living in a refugee camp in Kenya for seven years when our book opens. Along with thousands of others, they’ve fled Somalia when war broke out in their country. The details surrounding how they ended up in the camp come later in the book, and I am not going to spoil them for you. They’re cared for by Fatuma, who is a sort of foster mom for them, and Omar does a lot of the work that needs to be done to keep the three of them alive.⁠ ⁠ One of the most memorable things for me from early in the book was the fact that they didn’t have something as simple as a real soccer ball. Instead the children in the camp gathered up plastic bags and fashioned them into a ball like shape so they would have something to play with. ⁠ ⁠ We get to see and experience Omar’s reservations about deciding to attend school rather than take care of his brother. Making the decision was hard for Omar and anyone who has had to make a difficult decision and weigh the potential pros and cons of a situation will be able to appreciate his struggle.⁠ ⁠ Omar has to fight against so many things at such a young age and while being responsible for his brother. It’s inspiring to anyone who feels like just getting through the day is difficult. It’s such a great book for anyone who needs a reminder that they’re not alone in their struggle to find a reason to move forward, to reach for something that might be just out of reach, or to hope for a better future.⁠

I'm a 5th grade teacher and this book was a requirement for my students to read and do an essay on. They actually loved the book and showed gratitude for such a good read.

La storia a fumetti è divertente da leggere

This was an incredible story, it moved me to tears and to laugh. The story had a beautiful ending and incredible message on courage, hope and resilience. I love this very much! It was real and captivating and did an excellent job of capturing the life and human emotions of the reality of what it's like to be in a refugee's shoes.

Que es un refugiado? Como es la vida de un refugiado? Un libro muy didáctico y entretenido, al ser en formato viñeta. Que sea una historia real lo hace mucho más atractivo.

Nice book for kids.

Its great book. Me and my 7 year old throughly enjoyed. It covers many many important topics that children should know. There are many fiction covering a topic or two. This covers a lot.