Sea Prayer

by Khaled Hosseini

Overview

An illustrated book on the refugee crisis that will break your heart in under 48 pages, from the #1 New York Times-bestselling author of The Kite Runner, A Thousand Splendid Suns, and And the Mountains Echoed.

"Intensely moving. . .Powerfully evocative of the plight in which displaced populations find themselves."– Kirkus, STARRED Review

"Hosseini's story, aimed at readers of all ages, does not dwell on nightmarish fates; instead, its emotional power flows from the love of a father for his son."– Publishers Weekly, STARRED BOX Review


A short, powerful, illustrated book written by beloved novelist Khaled Hosseini in response to the current refugee crisis, Sea Prayer is composed in the form of a letter, from a father to his son, on the eve of their journey. Watching over his sleeping son, the father reflects on the dangerous sea-crossing that lies before them. It is also a vivid portrait of their life in Homs, Syria, before the war, and of that city's swift transformation from a home into a deadly war zone.

Impelled to write this story by the haunting image of young Alan Kurdi, the three-year-old Syrian boy whose body washed upon the beach in Turkey in September 2015, Hosseini hopes to pay tribute to the millions of families, like Kurdi's, who have been splintered and forced from home by war and persecution, and he will donate author proceeds from this book to the UNHCR (the UN Refugee Agency) and The Khaled Hosseini Foundation to help fund lifesaving relief efforts to help refugees around the globe.

Khaled Hosseini is one of the most widely read writers in the world, with more than fifty-five million copies of his novels sold worldwide in more than seventy countries. Hosseini is also a Goodwill Envoy to the UNHCR, and the founder of The Khaled Hosseini Foundation, a nonprofit that provides humanitarian assistance to the people of Afghanistan.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780525539094
Publisher:	Penguin Publishing Group
Publication date:	09/18/2018
Pages:	48
Sales rank:	155,833
Product dimensions:	6.40(w) x 9.80(h) x 0.37(d)

About the Author

Khaled Hosseini was born in Kabul, Afghanistan, and moved to the United States in 1980. He is the author of the New York Times bestsellers The Kite Runner, A Thousand Splendid Suns, and And the Mountains Echoed. Hosseini is also a U.S. Goodwill Envoy to the UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, and the founder of The Khaled Hosseini Foundation, a nonprofit that provides humanitarian assistance to the people of Afghanistan.

Khaled Hosseini will donate author proceeds from this book to UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, and to The Khaled Hosseini Foundation to help fund life-saving relief efforts to help refugees around the globe.

Hometown:

Sunnyvale, California

Date of Birth:

March 4, 1965

Place of Birth:

Kabul, Afghanistan

Education:

B.S. in biology, Santa Clara University, 1988; M.D., UC San Diego School of Medicine, 1993

Website:

http://www.khaledhosseini.com

Editorial Reviews

★ 07/30/2018
Hosseini (The Kite Runner) says he was compelled to write about the refugee crisis after seeing the photograph of Alan Kurdi, the three-year-old Syrian who drowned off the coast of Turkey in 2015. Yet Hosseini’s story, aimed at readers of all ages, does not dwell on nightmarish fates; instead, its emotional power flows from the love of a father for his son. Written as a letter, the father begins slowly, recalling for his son, Marwan, the beauty of the Syrian town of Homs as it once was (“We woke in the mornings/ to the stirring of olive trees in the breeze”), then describing the war that destroyed it (“First came the protests./ Then the siege”). Now Marwan and his family sit on a beach, waiting for a boat. The father reassures Marwan: “Hold my hand./ Nothing bad will happen.” Inside, though, he is in turmoil: “These are only words... all I can think tonight is/ how deep the sea,/ and how vast, how indifferent.” In Williams’s loosely stroked ink-and-wash spreads, the corals and greens of the Syrian countryside give way to war’s gray shadows and the sea’s blue hues. Expansive views of sky and water both temper the text’s emotional build and render the figures in them small and fragile. Together, the evocative illustrations and graceful, compelling prose make it clear that Marwan and his parents have no choice but to trust the sea. Ages 7–up. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly

"This is a slim book, but one that readers young and old won’t soon forget." – Bookish
 
"Powerful." – Time Magazine

"Slim, but essential. . . In its elevation of the pastoral and critique of a dark reality through the interplay of word and image, Sea Prayer calls to mind William Blake’s humanitarian ‘Songs of Innocence and Experience.’ The text’s minimalism complements London illustrator Dan Williams’ gorgeous watercolor and ink illustrations." – San Francisco Chronicle
 
" ‘Sea Prayer’ will take your breath away with its simplicity and grace . . . I started digging into this short masterpiece. The world stopped . . . I carried it around for a month, reading it everywhere." – The Florida Times-Union

"The book may be brief, but it is beautiful, poetic – a distillation of his strengths … It combines Hosseini’s multiple personae, as a wordsmith, as a father and even as a doctor." – The Sunday Times Magazine

"Dan Williams’s watercolours are a haunting companion to the contemplative and poetic story of a father fleeing Syria with his son. Though considerably shorter than The Kite Runner, A Thousand Splendid Suns or And the Mountains Echoed, it opens up as many powerful emotions about family, survival and childhood." – The Guardian
 
"Khaled Hosseini’s newest book is as moving as any of his novels."– Independent 

"The book may be brief, but it is beautiful, poetic – a distillation of his strengths … It combines Hosseini’s multiple personae, as a wordsmith, as a father and even as a doctor." – The Sunday Times Magazine
 
"This inspiring illustrated book is a testament to the fact that strength comes in many forms and that life is precious.”—PopSugar

"Sea Prayer provides an opportunity for parents to discuss the details of the Syrian Refugee Crisis with their children and to broach the topic of the very real uncertainty refugee families face when they are torn from their homes." –Columbia Journal

"Sea Prayer is a remarkable response to the current refugee crisis happening in our world today . . . Hosseini’s story is a must-read for all people around the world." – Signature-Reads 
 
"Hosseini writes a tender and searching exploration of the forces that drive families to flee their countries and the terrible grief for all that is left behind. After reading this devastating story, you will never think about home, refugees, or family the same way again." – Brightly

"Intensely moving . . . Powerfully evocative of the plight in which displaced populations find themselves . . . The book reads like an emotional gut-punch. . .  It is impossible to read without feeling intense compassion for those—and there are thousands—whose lives resemble those of the characters in the book. Powerful." – Kirkus, STARRED Review

"Hosseini’s story, aimed at readers of all ages, does not dwell on nightmarish fates; instead, its emotional power flows from the love of a father for his son . . . In Williams’s loosely stroked ink-and-wash spreads, the corals and greens of the Syrian countryside give way to war’s gray shadows and the sea’s blue hues. Expansive views of sky and water both temper the text’s emotional build and render the figures in them small and fragile. Together, the evocative illustrations and graceful, compelling prose make it clear that Marwan and his parents have no choice but to trust the sea." – Publishers Weekly, STARRED BOX Review

Praise for Khaled Hosseini:
 
“Mr. Hosseini’s narrative gifts have deepened over the years. . . . That Mr. Hosseini manages . . . to actually succeed in spinning his characters’ lives into a deeply affecting choral work is a testament both to his intimate knowledge of their inner lives, and to his power as an old-fashioned storyteller.” —The New York Times
 
“Hosseini’s writing makes our hearts ache, our stomachs clench, and our emotions reel. . . . Hosseini tells this saddest of stories in achingly beautiful prose through stunningly heroic characters whose spirits somehow grasp the dimmest rays of hope.” —USA Today
 
“Some writers, like Khaled Hosseini, know how to whisk rough moral fiber into something exquisite . . . over and over again, he takes complicated characters and roasts them slowly, forcing us to revise our judgments about them and to recognize the good in the bad and vice versa.” —The Washington Post
 
“Readers flocked to The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns because Hosseini so richly illuminated an unfamiliar world . . . the heartwarming closing pages [of And the Mountains Echoed] remind us why the author has attracted such an ardent following.” —The Boston Globe
 
“Hosseini’s work is uplifting, enlightening, universal.” —Fort Worth Star-Telegram

From the Publisher

★ 11/01/2018

Short yet powerful, this beautifully illustrated work conveys a heartfelt message about the plight of displaced populations. On a moonlit beach on the eve of a perilous journey across the sea to a better life, a father cradles his sleeping son as he reflects on their life in Homs, Syria, and awaits a boat they hope will take them to safety. He recalls the city's swift transformation from a peaceful home to a deadly war zone. Written as a fictional letter from a father to his son, Marwan, this poetic story is enhanced by Williams's moving, ink-washed, watercolor art. Stunning coral/green landscapes are replaced by ominous dull gray images that represent the deterioration of Syria. The combination of text and illustrations, expressed as a prayer, evokes the father's compassion more than his fear. Although briefer than Hosseini's other works, this vivid portrait of refugees who left everything behind and endured heartache and loss is no less potent. VERDICT A poignant offering that will encourage serious conversation about the refugee crisis among readers of all ages. Pair with The Lines We Cross by Randa Abdel-Fattah, Escape from Aleppo by N.H. Senzai, and A Land of Permanent Goodbyes by Atia Abawi.—Angelina Bair, Willoughby-Eastlake Public Library, OH

School Library Journal

★ 2018-08-02

A poignant letter written by a fearful Syrian father to his son on the eve of a treacherous sea crossing to Europe.

Commemorating the third anniversary of the death of 3-year-old Alan Kurdi, whose lifeless body, captured on camera, washed up on shore in September 2015, sparking worldwide outrage, this intensely moving story opens with the father's recollection of the family's peaceful life in Homs, Syria, before the city was turned into a deadly war zone. Writing in the first person, Hosseini successfully contrasts the father's Homs, a bustling and lively city before the war, with the one his son has known, a ravaged city marked with bombings, starvation, and burials. The contrast is rendered through Hosseini's unmatchable lyrical style—but also effectively portrayed on a graphic level through a pronounced change in Williams' palette, warm greens and ochers modulating to slate-blues and grays in the loose, affecting watercolors. The second portion of the letter is a prayer for a safe journey. It is powerfully evocative of the plight in which displaced populations find themselves, having to undertake a journey known to be unsafe—yet, for many, it is an option they cannot afford not to take. The book reads like an emotional gut-punch…an excruciating one. It is impossible to read without feeling intense compassion for those—and there are thousands—whose lives resemble those of the characters in the book.

Powerful. (Picture book. 10-adult)

Kirkus Reviews