By Victoria Jamieson and Omar Mohamed
Penguin, 2020. Graphic memoir.
When he was four years old, Omar and his disabled younger brother Hassan walked from their home in Somalia to Dadaab refugee camp in Kenya in order to flee civil war. Their father was killed on the day they left home, they have no idea if their mother is alive or dead - or if she'll ever find them, and they don't know whether they'll ever see their home again. Seven years later, Omar and Hassan are used to their life in a refugee camp, and Omar is good at taking care of his younger brother. He is torn, then, when he's given the chance to return to school. Omar used to love school but dropped out to take care of his brother, and going back means leaving his vulnerable brother alone all day.
This graphic novel memoir tells a beautiful, empowering, and hopeful true story of a boy who spent most of his childhood living in a refugee camp. I was skeptical, at first, about the graphic novel format, but Victoria Jamieson is uniquely able to make this incredible story accessible with exquisite artwork and a compelling narrative. It's not often that you read a book for the first time knowing that people will be reading that book for years and years to come, but this book is one of those. This memoir is not an easy book to read, but it is the right book for young readers to start a discussion about refugees and inspire empathy.
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