Idriss and His Marble

This refugee story for younger readers follows Idriss, a boy of color who lives in a place where the ground is dry and sandy and the buildings are low and flat-roofed. He doesn’t know just why he and his mother must leave and find a new place to live, but it has to do with the “CRACKS and BOOMS” he can hear outside, where “whispers turn to shouting.” Loose ink wash and earth-toned spreads by Zaü (Hazelnut Days) underscore the length of their journey as Idriss and his mother walk, ride, cross under barbed wire (“His mother is so graceful, weaving their bodies beneath the barbed wire as if she were dancing”), and board a boat. Throughout, Idriss holds on to his precious marble. Gouichoux (I Am Ivan Crocodile!) focuses on the way Idriss treasures his small, beautiful object, which he calls lucky; he clings to it, almost loses it, then gets it back. Readers will quickly grasp how caring for his precious possession is what sustains him in his flight across borders. And when Idriss reaches his new home, his marble is his passport to a new life and a new language. Ages 8–9. (Sept.)