Review by Booklist Review
Adel is a young Afghan boy, and, when his father unexpectedly dies, his story suddenly changes from one of family life to one of survival. A couple months later, his father's brother marries his mother, and he sends Adel to a Taliban school. Eventually, he is strapped with explosives and told to become a martyr for Allah. Luckily, the detonator doesn't trigger the explosion, and to escape his uncle and the Taliban's wrath, he and his cousin Shafi begin a months-long journey to England, where Shafi's brother Muhammad lives. This story is heavy, but Adel is likable and garners sympathy as the journey becomes more arduous. Shafi is a teenager and acts much as one would expect a teenager in the position of a caretaker under stressful circumstances to act. The illustrations have a raw quality to them, and each leg of the journey is washed in a different color: the story begins in a drab olive green and gets brighter until it ends with a more varied purple. This is a heartbreaking story with painful consequences.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Booklist Review
