

When Stars Are Scattered
By:
Omar and his younger brother, Hassan, have spent most of their lives in Dadaab, a refugee camp in Kenya. Life is hard there: never enough food, achingly dull, and without access to the medical care Omar knows his nonverbal brother needs. So when Omar has the opportunity to go to school, he knows it might be a chance to change their future…but it would also mean leaving his brother, the only family member he has left, every day.
Heartbreak, hope, and gentle humor exist together in this graphic novel about a childhood spent waiting, and a young man who is able to create a sense of family and home in the most difficult of settings. It’s an intimate, important, unforgettable look at the day-to-day life of a refugee, as told to New York Times Bestselling author/artist Victoria Jamieson by Omar Mohamed, the Somali man who lived the story.
Afterword with photographs. Authors’ notes. Full-color illustrations.
ISBN: 9780525553915
JLG Release: Jun 2020
Awards & Honors
2020 National Book Awatd Shortlist for Young People's Literature
2021 Schneider Family Best Middle Grades Honor Book
Publisher's Weekly Best Middle Grade Books of 2020
Praise & Reviews
Starred or favorable reviews have been received from these periodicals:
The Horn Book Magazine*, School Library Journal*, Kirkus Reviews*, Publishers Weekly*, Booklist*
School Library Journal
Horn Book
Book Details
ISBN
9780525553915
First Release
June 2020
Genre
Fic
Dewey Classification
B
Trim Size
8.3 x 5.5
Page Count
264
Accelerated Reader
Level 3.7; Points: 4;
Scholastic Reading Counts
N/ALexile
N/AFormat
Print Book
Edition
Hardcover edition
Publisher
Dial
Potentially Sensitive Areas
Violence: War/Harsh Realities of War
Topics
Graphic novels, Omar Mohamed (social worker), Somalian refugees, Kenyan refugee camps, Brothers,