Stormy Seas: Stories of Young Boat Refugees

Gr 4-7--Across time, desperation has driven people from their homes in search of refuge--and the only way out is often through a stormy passage on the sea. Ruth was one of 900 Jewish people who boarded a ship, hoping to escape Nazi Germany; Mohammed, orphaned during the civil war in the Ivory Coast, scrounged up money to board a narrow, crowded boat headed for Europe. While Shakespeare provides evocative collage artwork, Leatherdale deftly retells the stories in spare but honest language; the text does not shy away from the perilous circumstances that the young people both escaped from and encountered. There are no guarantees of happy endings, but the information is important for students to understand. It is impossible to ignore the importance of a book like this in the current political climate, and educators and librarians looking for a human face for the refugee crisis will find this offering essential. VERDICT A timely, powerful piece of nonfiction, this is a first purchase for most collections.--Erinn Black Salge, Saint Peter's Preparatory School, Jersey City Copyright 2017 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

This composite portrait of the struggles of 20th- and 21st-century boat refugees is alternately harrowing, wrenching, and hopeful. Leatherdale (coauthor of Urban Tribes nd Dreaming in Indian provides compact profiles of five adolescents who, between 1939 and 2006, left their homelands to escape violence and repressive regimes. In 1939, 18-year-old Ruth was among more than 900 German Jews aboard the SS St. Louis ho were turned away from Cuba (and several other North and South American nations, including the U.S.); decades later, 13-year-old Jose and his family fled Cuba in what became known as the Mariel boatlift. Sidebars provide historical context, and the asylum-seekersa first-person accounts bring immediacy and urgency to their stories (four of the former refugees are still alive, and shared their stories with the author). Displacement, desperation, isolation, and persecution are common to all five stories, and although closing passages offer somewhat heartening updates on what happened to each individual, Leatherdale never sugarcoats the human cost of these tragedies. Shakespeareas (Cut, Paste, Create photo collages underscore the peril and perseverance of the journeys, which serve as powerful mirrors to current humanitarian crises. Ages 10a up. (Apr.) Copyright 2017 Publishers Weekly Used with permission.