тАЬFilled with kindness and hopeтАжHeartbreakingтАжNecessary.тАЭ тАФBooklist (starred review)
NadiaтАЩs family is forced to flee their home in Aleppo, Syria, when the Arab Spring sparks a civil war in this timely, тАЬharrowingтАЭ (Publishers Weekly) coming-of-age novel from award-winning author N.H. Senzai.
Silver and gold balloons. A birthday cake covered in pink roses. A new dress.
Nadia stands at the center of attention in her parentsтАЩ elegant dining room. This is the best day of my life, she thinks. Everyone is about to sing тАЬHappy Birthday,тАЭ when her uncle calls from the living room, тАЬBaba, brothers, you need to see this.тАЭ Reluctantly, she follows her family into the other room. On TV, a reporter stands near an overturned vegetable cart on a dusty street. Beside it is a mound of smoldering ashes. The reporter explains that a vegetable vendor in the city of Tunis burned himself alive, protesting corrupt government officials who have been harassing his business. Nadia frowns.
It is December 17, 2010: NadiaтАЩs twelfth birthday and the beginning of the Arab Spring. Soon anti-government protests erupt across the Middle East and, one by one, countries are thrown into turmoil. As civil war flares in Syria and bombs fall across NadiaтАЩs home city of Aleppo, her family decides to flee to safety. Inspired by current events, this novel sheds light on the complicated situation in Syria that has led to an international refugee crisis, and tells the story of one girlтАЩs journey to safety.