Wishes

"This book brings to mind the line from Warsan Shire’s well-known poem “Home”: “no one puts their children in a boat/unless the water is safer than the land.” Wishes is a story about the refugee journey ingeniously told from the perspective of the objects surrounding the travelers. (“The path wished it was shorter. The boat wished it was bigger.”) By focusing on the wishes underlying the journey, Muon Thi Van, a refugee herself, shifts the story from one of despair to one of hope – because as harrowing as the journey is, it is ultimately fueled by the wish and hope that there is something better on the other end. (For ages 4 to 8)"