Starred review from March 26, 2018
After tanks arrive and “swallow up everything,” a boy begins the harrowing, heartbreaking journey away from his home in an unnamed desert village: “I take giant steps even though I am small.... I don’t know when I will get there, or where I am going. I carry a heavy bag.” His mother is missing, but the boy dreams of her as they camp at night and imagines her words urging him forward as he walks during the day, joining “hundreds of people, thousands of feet, one in front of the other.” Finally, the boy reaches a border, where an ambiguous ending suggests that he finds a new home in a new country. Readers may need help puzzling out a few metaphors in some of the spare, poetic lines (“I will build my house with the cement of my sure steps”). But Borràs, the recipient of several international illustration awards, creates powerful images in fluid ink lines and textured paint washes that convey with uncommon sensitivity a young refugee’s fear, courage, and sense of dislocation. Ages 5–7.
May 1, 2018
K-Gr 3-Young Marwan takes "giants steps even though I am small...crossing the desert," leaving traces of his homeland behind. He takes with him small relics such as a photograph as well as many memories as he travels to "an infinite line that separates the desert from the sea." Though he heads to another land with a different language, to a different house in a different country, he remembers his mother's words and never loses hope. Instead, Marwan continues to "pray that night never...goes so dark again." Lightly layered illustrations, done in what appears to be watercolor and ink, use earth tones to evoke a desert landscape. As the child continues his trek, additional but subtle colors are introduced in the changing scenery. Marwan's spare narration effectively conveys his journey, complemented by the changing perspectives of the illustration. VERDICT This lyrical yet accessible addition to a growing body of refugee stories captures the resilience and courage of displaced children seeking safety and sanctuary.-Maria B. Salvadore, formerly at District of Columbia Public Library
Copyright 2018 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
Starred review from March 15, 2018
A child walks across the desert fleeing conflict, recalling the home left behind and promising to return to it someday.As Marwan walks, the simple and poetic text brings readers along on this heartbreaking journey: "I walk, and my footsteps leave a trace of ancient stories, the songs of my homeland, and the smell of tea and bread, jasmine and earth." Marwan walks with many. His mother is not among them, but as he dreams, he can hear her voice urging him to walk on and never look back. He remembers the day darkness swallowed up everything and he joined a "line of humans like ants crossing the desert." Marwan vows to return and to pray "that one day the night never, never, never goes so dark again." Borr�s' deceivingly simple freestyle illustrations in ink and color wash go hand in hand with the text, neither one shying away from harsh reality yet still child accessible. Originally published in Spanish as El Camino de Marwan and honored at the Bologna Ragazzi Awards in 2017, it is the story of a journey that is sadly the journey of too many children, one filled with fear and hope, longing and sadness. The country that Marwan is forced to leave is never specified, but details such as his Arabic name, onion domes, and women in hijabs point to Syria.A beautiful, haunting, and, sadly, important book. (Picture book. 6-10)
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May 1, 2018
Grades 1-4 In this haunting and gorgeously illustrated picture book about forced migration, a small, sad boy named Marwan narrates while taking giant steps in a caravan of people escaping their homeland on foot. De Arias sets her story in an unnamed place, but cultural references, supported by illustrations, suggest one of the Middle Eastern countries from which millions are currently being displaced. The text is unembellished, yet evocative: my footsteps leave a trace of ancient stories, the songs of my homeland, and the smell of tea and bread, jasmine and earth. The boy's spare thoughts reflect upon the home he left and his resolve to keep walking with his people. But what the text omits, the images provide. Swathes of deeply pigmented watercolor and black ink float on white backgrounds, capturing the arid desert, jumble of towns, and a sea of faces moving on with grim determination, as well as Marwan's hope of returning home one day and planting a garden. His story leaves the reader unsettled, perhaps reasonably so, as Marwan, too, is left unmoored.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)
January 1, 2019
Although Marwan's Middle Eastern birth country is only hinted at in the beautifully expressive watercolor and ink paintings, the boy is unfortunately among the adult and child refugees fleeing war-torn countries worldwide. His mother, "with her flour-soft hands," is not beside him on the hard journey. The poetic first-person text, translated from the Spanish, addresses violence but still allows hope of Marwan one day returning to his homeland.
(Copyright 2019 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)