#blogbookaday: Mustafa
Summary: “Mustafa and his family traveled a long way to reach their new home. Some nights Mustafa dreams about the country he used to live in, and he wakes up not knowing where he is. Then his mother takes him out to the balcony to see the moon — the same moon as in their old country. In the park, Mustafa sees ants and caterpillars and bees — they are the same, too. He encounters a “girl-with-a-cat,” who says something in a language that he can’t understand. He watches an old lady feeding birds and other children playing, but he is always looking in from the outside and he feels that he is invisible. But one day, the girl-with-the-cat beckons to him, and Mustafa begins to become part of his new world. ” (Taken from Goodreads)
Review: A story of friendship between a little boy who has moved to a new country to escape from an unsafe place filled with smoke and fire, dust and broken trees and a little girl who walks her cat on a piece of ribbon. As Mustafa learns more and more about his new home by visiting the park and watching the other children play, the little girl continues to try to reach out to Mustafa. They finally become friends even though they don’t understand each others languages, by playing together and exploring the park.
Personal Reaction: This would make a perfect read aloud for a classroom setting to talk about immigrant and refuge populations in an accessible way for young children. It would also make a wonderful conversation starter about how to become friends with someone who is very different from yourself. Marie-Louise Gay has such soft, pretty illustrations and even with such a difficult topic, her illustrations of the park outside of Mustafa’s home are so inviting, the perfect place to make a friend!
Title: Mustafa
Author: Marie-Louise Gay
Illustrator: Marie-Louise Gay
Publisher: Groundwood Books
Publication Date: August 1, 2018
This is a new idea I’m trying on my blog this year that was inspired by @donalynbooks and @heisereads – to provide a brief review of a picture book every day of 2018. You’ll get a brief summary of the story, a review of the content, illustrations and theme, my personal reaction to the book and all the pertinent publication information! Enjoy!
