A moving, poetic narrative and child-friendly illustrations follow the heartbreaking, ultimately hopeful journey of a little girl who is forced to become a refugee.

'The day war came there were flowers on the windowsill and my father sang my baby brother back to sleep. Imagine if, on an ordinary day, after a morning of studying tadpoles and drawing birds at school, the war came to your town and turned it to rubble. Imagine if you lost everything and everyone, and you had to make a dangerous journey all alone. Imagine that there was no welcome at the end and no room for you to even take a seat at school. And then a child, just like you, gave you something ordinary but so very, very precious. '

In lyrical, deeply affecting language, Nicola Davies's text combines with Rebecca Cobb's expressive illustrations to evoke the experience of a child who sees war take away all that she knows. The story of a young girl fleeing war is told clearly and simply, in ways kids can understand. The girl's school, home, and town are destroyed. Descriptions of the war are graphic enough to convey what's happening, but the worst details, including loss of her family, are muted or implied, not stated outright.

Ultimately, the book is hopeful, since help is offered unexpectedly when the girl arrives at a refugee camp. And since it's offered by another child, it provides the clear model that kids can be openhearted and try to help others.

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