Rating: *** 3 stars

Anthony Robinson and Annmarie Young, illustrated by June Allan,
Mohammed's Journey: A Refugee Diary
Frances Lincoln, 2009.

This picture book is based on the experiences of Mohammed, a Kurdish boy who fled Iraq with his mother, Susan, to escape the persecution of the Kurds before the fall of Saddam Hussein. Strictly speaking, it is not a diary, since it is told from the perspective of Mohammed in Britain after his escape. Nevertheless, it must reflect the experience of many refugees from persecution wherever they come from: the death or disappearance of family members, the brutality meted out even to children, the clandestine flight across borders in conditions that are at best uncomfortable and at worst dangerous and terrifying, and the disturbing transplantation into a largely alien new society where your status is uncertain and the threat of return may remain. The full import of this can hardly be conveyed in a book that is intended for a pre-teen audience, although it is good to see it attempted. The matter-of-fact text and the restrained illustrations which, often as not in the worst situations, show people in profile or from the back, resist the exploitation of suffering and indignity and offer enough support to the text to provoke the reader’s empathetic imagination. Colour photographs, mounted as if in a scrapbook of snap shots, remind us that this happened not so long ago and is still happening to children who sit in British classrooms. The book closes with background information on the history and politics of Iraq before and after the flight of Mohammed and his mother.

Clive Barnes
July 2009, No. 177

Guide to the rating system:
***** 5 stars, unmissable
**** 4 stars, very good
*** 3 stars, good
** 2 stars, fair
* 1 star, poor