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Today is baking day.
Once a week Ayah and her mother get to use the tandoor oven at their refugee camp. While they bake, Ayah talks about her teacher asking the class what they want to be when they grow up. Her mother wonders if Ayah wants to be an engineer or a singer...but Ayah has never met anyone like that.
While getting some fresh air, Ayah rests her eyes until a swallow says hello. "Please can I have some bread?" it asks. Ayah shares her snack, and the swallow tells her about its travels. Ayah has never seen the world outside the fence-she thought it was all dangerous. The sparrow explains that there are many places without war, and he invites her to climb on his back to fly with him and see the world for herself. Together they soar over fields and mountains and busy cities, and when Ayah returns, she can dream of a future where she'll be free.
Available in French as Ayah et le vaste monde.
Key Selling Points
• Ayah has always lived in a refugee camp, and she isn't sure what she wants to be when she grows up. But then she dreams of a visit from a swallow who shows her the wide world outside the fence, and she learns that there are many possibilities beyond the confines of her camp.
• This book gives us an authentic look into life as a child in a refugee camp, while the magical realism of Ayah's travels on the swallow's back shows how crucial imagination is in persevering through difficult times-and how it provides hope and strength.
• Inspired by author Souad Shehab's personal experience. She was born in Syria, in a camp for displaced persons, and lived there for twenty-four years.
• Souad Shehab is a retired teacher and first-time author, and Julie Sedivy is an academic and nonfiction writer.
• Authors Souad and Julie met by chance in Toronto and quickly became as close as sisters despite their different backgrounds and languages. They are collaborating together on a series of children's stories and continue to inspire each other in their professional and personal lives.
• Barkha Lohia's illustrations skillfully capture both the reality of the camp's environment and the variety and beauty of the landscapes Ayah views with the swallow, as well as the warm relationship between Ayah and her mother.
In this moving picture book, Ayah, who has always lived in a refugee camp, is trying to figure out what she wants to be when she grows up. When she falls asleep and dreams of a swallow who shows her there are places without fences, and without war, she realizes she wants to be free like him.
Julie Sedivy is a citizen of three countries. At the age of two, she left the country of her birth (Czechoslovakia, now the Czech Republic) soon after the Soviet invasion of 1968. She has made her home in many places, including Montreal, upstate New York, Providence (Rhode Island) and Calgary, where she currently lives and writes. She has taught linguistics and psychology at Brown University and the University of Calgary, and is the author of several nonfiction books, including Linguaphile: A Life of Language Love. She is especially interested in the complicated and beautiful lives of people who are not sure where to call home.
Souad Shehab is a Palestinian writer who was born in a tent in a refugee camp in southwest Syria. She spent twenty-four years in the camp, where she experienced firsthand the difficulties of refugee life. Trained as a teacher, she taught in Syrian primary schools for twenty-five years and raised four of her own boys. She became a refugee a second time when civil war broke out in Syria, escaping to Lebanon and then arriving in Canada in 2017. She currently lives in Edmonton with her family, where she teaches preschool and is working toward her dream of establishing herself as a writer in her new home.
Barkha Lohia is an illustrator and visual artist who brings stories to life through her artwork-whether in picture books, editorials or prints. She is a recipient o
Once a week Ayah and her mother get to use the tandoor oven at their refugee camp. While they bake, Ayah talks about her teacher asking the class what they want to be when they grow up. Her mother wonders if Ayah wants to be an engineer or a singer...but Ayah has never met anyone like that.
While getting some fresh air, Ayah rests her eyes until a swallow says hello. "Please can I have some bread?" it asks. Ayah shares her snack, and the swallow tells her about its travels. Ayah has never seen the world outside the fence-she thought it was all dangerous. The sparrow explains that there are many places without war, and he invites her to climb on his back to fly with him and see the world for herself. Together they soar over fields and mountains and busy cities, and when Ayah returns, she can dream of a future where she'll be free.
Available in French as Ayah et le vaste monde.
Key Selling Points
• Ayah has always lived in a refugee camp, and she isn't sure what she wants to be when she grows up. But then she dreams of a visit from a swallow who shows her the wide world outside the fence, and she learns that there are many possibilities beyond the confines of her camp.
• This book gives us an authentic look into life as a child in a refugee camp, while the magical realism of Ayah's travels on the swallow's back shows how crucial imagination is in persevering through difficult times-and how it provides hope and strength.
• Inspired by author Souad Shehab's personal experience. She was born in Syria, in a camp for displaced persons, and lived there for twenty-four years.
• Souad Shehab is a retired teacher and first-time author, and Julie Sedivy is an academic and nonfiction writer.
• Authors Souad and Julie met by chance in Toronto and quickly became as close as sisters despite their different backgrounds and languages. They are collaborating together on a series of children's stories and continue to inspire each other in their professional and personal lives.
• Barkha Lohia's illustrations skillfully capture both the reality of the camp's environment and the variety and beauty of the landscapes Ayah views with the swallow, as well as the warm relationship between Ayah and her mother.
In this moving picture book, Ayah, who has always lived in a refugee camp, is trying to figure out what she wants to be when she grows up. When she falls asleep and dreams of a swallow who shows her there are places without fences, and without war, she realizes she wants to be free like him.
Julie Sedivy is a citizen of three countries. At the age of two, she left the country of her birth (Czechoslovakia, now the Czech Republic) soon after the Soviet invasion of 1968. She has made her home in many places, including Montreal, upstate New York, Providence (Rhode Island) and Calgary, where she currently lives and writes. She has taught linguistics and psychology at Brown University and the University of Calgary, and is the author of several nonfiction books, including Linguaphile: A Life of Language Love. She is especially interested in the complicated and beautiful lives of people who are not sure where to call home.
Souad Shehab is a Palestinian writer who was born in a tent in a refugee camp in southwest Syria. She spent twenty-four years in the camp, where she experienced firsthand the difficulties of refugee life. Trained as a teacher, she taught in Syrian primary schools for twenty-five years and raised four of her own boys. She became a refugee a second time when civil war broke out in Syria, escaping to Lebanon and then arriving in Canada in 2017. She currently lives in Edmonton with her family, where she teaches preschool and is working toward her dream of establishing herself as a writer in her new home.
Barkha Lohia is an illustrator and visual artist who brings stories to life through her artwork-whether in picture books, editorials or prints. She is a recipient o