En plus de nombreuses distinctions, WHEN STARS ARE SCATTERED a récemment été choisi par la Book Review du New York Times pour leur sélection des 25 meilleurs livres jeunesse de 2020 (voir la liste complète). Dans cette bande-dessinée middle-grade, publiée par Dial Books for Young Readers en avril 2020, Victoria Jamieson, autrice-illustratrice du best-seller Roller Girl, a recueilli et donné vie au témoignage du Somalien Omar Mohamed sur son enfance dans un camp de réfugiés.
Omar et son jeune frère Hassan ont passé la plus grande partie de leur vie à Dadaab, un camp de réfugiés au Kenya. La vie y est dure : jamais assez de nourriture, rien à faire, et pas d’accès aux soins médicaux dont Hassan a besoin. Quand une occasion d’être scolarisé se présente, Omar sait que cela pourrait être une chance de changer leur avenir à tous les deux… mais aller à l’école signifierait aussi quitter chaque jour son frère, le seul membre de sa famille qui lui reste.
• National Book Award Finalist
• Amazon Best Children’s Book of 2020
• School Library Journal Best Book of 2020
• Kirkus Best Children’s Book of 2020
• NYPL Best Book for Kids
• NPR’s Book Concierge Pick…
“Through Omar’s journey, and those of his friends and family members, readers get a close, powerful view of the trauma and uncertainty that attend life as a refugee as well as the faith, love, and support from unexpected quarters that get people through it. . . This engaging, heartwarming story does everything one can ask of a book, and then some.” —Kirkus, starred review
“Mohamed’s experience is unfortunately not unique, but it is told with grace, humility, and forgiveness. This beautiful memoir is not to be missed.” —Booklist, starred review
“Jamieson and Mohamed together craft a cohesive, winding story that balances daily life and boredom, past traumas, and unforeseen outcomes alongside camp denizens’ ingenuity and community . . . colorist Iman Geddy’s deep purple skies drive home the title. The result of this team effort is a personal and poignant entry point for young readers trying to understand an unfair world.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review
“Over the next fifteen years chronicled in this moving, slightly fictionalized graphic novel, the boys grow to manhood in an overcrowded tent city . . . Jamieson’s artwork, affectionately depicting resilient kids who manage to carve out lives in a community with few solid prospects, reprises the inviting ebullience readers will recognize from Roller Girl and All’s Faire. ” —BCCB
Les droits de langue française sont toujours disponibles.
Magnolia Moon is nine years old, likes Greek mythology, her best friend Imogen May (who understands the importance of questions like, “If you could be one fruit, any fruit, what would you be?”), wishing trees, and speaking crows. She knows instinctively that buffadillos are armadillos crossed with buffalos and believes there are walramingos living in her garden. She’s also the kind of person who can be entrusted with a great many secrets.
Eleven-year-old Maybelle Lane collects sounds. She records the Louisiana crickets chirping, Momma strumming her guitar, their broken trailer door squeaking. But the crown jewel of her collection is a sound she didn’t collect herself: an old recording of her daddy’s warm-sunshine laugh, saved on an old phone’s voicemail. It’s the only thing she has of his, and the only thing she knows about him. Until the day she hears that laugh—his laugh—pouring out of the car radio. Going against Momma’s wishes, Maybelle starts listening to her radio DJ daddy’s new show, drinking in every word like a plant leaning toward the sun. When he announces he’ll be the judge of a singing contest in Nashville, she signs up. What better way to meet than to stand before him and sing with all her heart? But the road to Nashville is bumpy. Her starch-stiff neighbor Mrs. Boggs offers to drive her in her RV. And a bully of a boy from the trailer park hitches a ride, too. These are not the people May would have chosen to help her, but it turns out they’re searching for things as well. And the journey will mold them into the best kind of family—the kind you choose for yourself.
In Leon’s world, superheroes are common as teachers or dentists—at Leon’s school, they come to Career Day alongside comic book artists and chefs! But being a superhero is anything but ordinary for kids like Leon, without powers. Surprise ambushes from villains can ruin a school trip, and superhero kids have a pretty unfair advantage in gym class. Though Leon’s keen common sense is practically a power unto itself, it’s not always effective against super-bullies… Until kids at school suddenly become obsessed with a new game. Even some of the super-kids seem trapped by flashing lights on their phone. As Leon swings into action, figuring out what’s taking over the school and his town, his common sense – and a few secrets he’ll discover hiding in plain sight – may become more powerful than he ever imagined.