English / USA
A star shines through
Desnickaja, Anja
(Desnitskaya, Anya)
(text/illus./transl.)
Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans Books for Young Readers, [2024]. – [32] p.
ISBN 978-0-8028-5631-9
Migration | Picture book | Refugee | War | Mother | Daughter | Home
Reading age: 5+
White Ravens issue: 2025
A child lives with their parents in a cozy apartment with a paper star illuminating the window, a beacon welcoming them home. However, when war erupts, the child and mother flee, landing in another country with an unfamiliar language and bare living quarters. Nothing feels like home until the mother brings home supplies to make a star lamp like the old one. Slowly a new idea of home begins to form. Striking illustrations in full colour, created with hand-drawn contours and Photoshop, use simple, clear lines to offer rich, detailed views of each interior and street scene, from air conditioning units and shop signs to sidewalk utilities. Once war begins, the only lights are cold blues and greys, but after making the star, warm, golden tones emanate not just from the apartment, but from the lights on city streets as well. In an author’s note, Anna Desnitskaya explains that her inspiration for this book came from her family’s own experience emigrating from Russia after the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. [MB]