Where Butterflies Fill the Sky: A Story of Immigration, Family, and Finding Home

by Zahra Marwan

Overview

Notes From Your Bookseller

Zahra Marwan's debut is the must-read story of her family's immigration from Kuwait to the United States. In a situation many are familiar with, Zahra beautifully depicts her homeland, the journey that followed her forced exile and the new life she adapted to in America. Perfect for helping children understand the ever-changing world around them and the dramatic events that have made stories like Zahra's commonplace.

A New York Times/New York Public Library Best Illustrated Children's Book

One of NPR's Best Books of 2022

Chicago Public Library's Best of the Best Informational Books for Younger Readers of 2022

A School Library Journal Best Book of 2022

A Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books 2022 Blue Ribbon Book

The Society of Illustrators' Dilys Evans Founders Award Winner 2022

A Bank Street College School of Education Best Book of the Year

Zahra Marwan is a recipient of the United Nations Minority Artist Award on Statelessness

An evocative picture book debut that tells the true story of the author's immigration from Kuwait to the United States.

Zahra lives in a beautiful place where the desert reaches all the way to the sea and one hundred butterflies always fill the sky. When Baba and Mama tell her that their family is no longer welcome here and they must leave, Zahra wonders if she will ever feel at home again—and what about the people she will leave behind? But when she and her family arrive in a new desert, she's surprised to find magic all around her. Home might not be as far away as she thought it would be.

With spare, moving text and vivid artwork, Zahra Marwan tells the true story of her and her family's immigration from Kuwait, where they were considered stateless, to New Mexico, where together they made a new home.

"Utterly original and enjoyable from start to finish." -Betsy Bird, librarian, book critic, and author of Long Road to the Circus

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781547606511
Publisher:	Bloomsbury USA
Publication date:	03/29/2022
Pages:	48
Product dimensions:	10.30(w) x 9.70(h) x 0.50(d)
Lexile:	500L (what's this?)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Zahra Marwan grew up in two deserts: one close to the sea in Kuwait, the other close to the mountains in New Mexico. She is a fine artist who exhibits extensively and has won international awards and fellowships, including a New York Times/New York Public Library Best Illustrated Children's Book, NPR Best Books of 2022, an Ezra Jack Keats Honor for Illustration, a Dilys Evans Founders Award from the Society of Illustrators, and more. She studied the visual arts in France and currently lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where she keeps a small studio at the Harwood Art Center.

Editorial Reviews

06/27/2022

Based, per an author’s note, on Marwan’s childhood experience migrating from Kuwait to New Mexico, this dreamlike picture book traces a family’s similar arc. Young Zahra, the story’s narrator, loves her home, “where one hundred butterflies are always in the sky” and “where my ancestors live and are always watching.” But “people say we don’t belong here,” and Zahra’s family must inexplicably travel to live someplace far away (“I say my goodbyes without knowing why”), a journey rendered as a physical tumult for the tan-skinned household, which flies through the air across a spread to a desertscape. There, Zahra initially feels out of place but soon finds a sense of community and home, missing family but spotting “one hundred balloons” in the sky. With loose, thin-lined illustrations that reflect the child’s feelings of being unmoored, this spare picture book thoughtfully explores the difficulties of limited childhood perspective and settling in a new place. Back matter includes contextualizing notes. Ages 4–8. (Mar.)

Publishers Weekly

The interplay of simple, literal prose and complex, figurative illustration here lifts this sensitive and useful picture book on immigration into an inviting exploration of how experiences are transformed by time and memory.” —BCCB, starred review

“Every page includes tiny imaginative details to enchant attentive readers: flowers, birds, fish, prayer beads, oud, guitarrón, and much more. This sensitive and beautifully depicted story should touch all young readers, regardless of family background or origin.” —School Library Journal, starred review

“Utterly original and enjoyable from start to finish.” —NPR

“With loose, thin-lined illustrations that reflect the child's feelings of being unmoored, this spare picture book thoughtfully explores the difficulties of limited childhood perspective and settling in a new place.” —Publishers Weekly

“A colorful, captivating odyssey for younger readers.” —Shelf Awareness

“A nuanced representation of belonging and citizenship that will ring true for many whose sense of home has never been absolute.” —The Horn Book

“The affectionate text is accompanied by traditionally created watercolor illustrations, the palette conveying the feel and beauty of the places featured in the book. A valuable insight into the world of immigration and displacement.” —Kirkus Reviews

“Zahra Marwan's stylistic ink and watercolor illustrations are magnificent, incorporating motifs, memories, and colors of both cultures throughout . . . This book seamlessly connects the two cultures, enhancing this simply told story rich in the concepts of immigration, family, and home.” —School Library Connection

“In this dreamlike memoir, Marwan recounts her family's immigration from Kuwait to New Mexico in sparse prose and whimsical, vibrant watercolor illustrations.” —Booklist

From the Publisher

★ 02/01/2022

K-Gr 4—In this moving debut, Marwan pares immigration to its elements—family, loss, and acceptance—conveying it in delicate but lively watercolor and line. The true story of her stateless childhood displacement from Kuwait to New Mexico is fully retold in the back matter, which also explains the bull motif (connecting Kuwait to ancient Greece). The narrator (appearing to be about seven) doesn't understand why they must leave the aunties, the home, and culture they know; only the illustrations suggest the menace of people who "say we don't belong." In the new place, the family finds connections: music, the desert, balloons as colorful as the lost butterflies. Zahra is "different," but belongs. Much of the profound appeal of this book comes from the art. Thin expressive lines define spaces of cool color, with touches of plum and black, against gentle washes floating free (clouds, sea, Zahra's puffy hair). Every page includes tiny imaginative details to enchant attentive readers: flowers, birds, fish, prayer beads, oud, guitarrón, and much more. VERDICT This sensitive and beautifully depicted story should touch all young readers, regardless of family background or origin.—Patricia D. Lothrop

School Library Journal

2021-12-16
In this fictionalized memoir, a child whose family experiences forced migration moves between two homes.

Zahra loves where she came from, a land with traditions tied to the sea and a place where relatives are closely connected. Despite sharing a culture with those around them, people tell them they do not belong on that land. When her parents decide to leave for a better place, Zahra does not understand why. She is bored and lonely in her new country and feels different from everyone there. Eventually, she comes to love her new home, a land with traditions that are magical in their own ways and a place where she can stay in touch with her family abroad. The names of locations, the reasons behind the events, and stories linked to some of the illustrations are detailed in the backmatter. The author’s two homes were New Mexico and Kuwait, from which her family moved due to being “stateless” and discriminated against (despite having lived in Kuwait for generations). While some readers may feel that revealing the details only in the backmatter moves the plot toward the universal, others may regret that the information there was not integrated into the story itself. The affectionate text is accompanied by traditionally created watercolor illustrations, the palette conveying the feel and beauty of the places featured in the book.

A valuable insight into the world of immigration and displacement. (author's note, illustration note) (Picture-book autobiography. 8-10)

Kirkus Reviews