Monday, October 26, 2020

Stormy Seas: Stories of Young Boat Refugees by Mary Beth Leatherdale and Eleanor Shakespeare

 


Last week, I reached an important milestone: I read my tenth 2020-2021 Rebecca Caudill nominee. I'm now halfway through this year's list, which I think is pretty awesome. The book I read was Stormy Seas: Stories of Young Boat Refugees by Mary Beth Leatherdale and Eleanor Shakespeare. Stormy Seas is a short collection of true stories about five young people from all around the world who left their homes to seek better lives as refugees. These stories cover why they left, what happened during their experiences, and what happened after. Although the journeys are dangerous, the stories are hopeful and the young refugees succeed in finding safe places to build new lives for themselves.

A couple weeks ago, I read The Only Road by Alexandra Diaz, so this book gave me even more insight about the immigrant experience, this time in a non-fiction format. I loved that the young refugees chosen were from different times and countries. One was from Europe, two were from Asia, another one was from the Caribbean, and the last one was from Africa. They also all ended up in different places. It was interesting that although she didn't end up in Cuba, one of the refugees initially sought asylum there, while another left it for the United States. Additionally, I thought Shakespeare's collage artwork was very beautiful and added to the tone and style of the book. This book contains sidebars, fact boxes, timelines, and resources for more information. I would recommend Stormy Seas to anyone who is interested in the hot topic of immigration.

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