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Samira is only nine years old when the Turkish army invades northwestern Persia in 1918, driving her family from its tiny village. They flee into the mountains, but the journey is so difficult that only Samira and her older brother survive. Beginning with a refugee camp run by the British Army, the children are shunted from one temporary home to another, finally ending up in an orphanage where it seems that they will live out their childhood. Then the new orphanage director, Susan Shedd, decides that she will take the 300 refugee children back to their home villages -- a journey of 300 miles -- through the mountains, on foot. Samira embarks on the journey with wonder and fear. Even if they make it, will there be anyone in her old village to take her in?… (more)
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Gr 6–10— When nine-year-old Samira and her family leave their Persian village, fleeing war in 1918, it is the beginning of a five-year odyssey in which she crosses national borders, loses both parents, and creates new family connections before her return, thanks to a determined orphanage director, Susan Shedd. This moving and suspenseful survival story is based on historical events; the director of the Hamadan orphanage in the country now called Iran was the author's aunt. Lottridge focuses her third-person narrative on Samira, imagining details of her prewar daily life, the horrors of the Assyrians' flight, the worlds of refugee camps and orphanages, and the long journey home, and bringing them to life for readers 90 years removed. Escaping Turks and Kurds, Samira and her brother had walked to Hamadan; returning, they were joined by more than 300 other refugee children, traveling the 300 miles on foot in "families" of 12 children organized and led by the redoubtable Miss Shedd. Out of sad, nearly forgotten history comes this triumphant story.—Kathleen Isaacs, Children's Literature Specialist, Pasadena, MD Copyright 2010 Reed Business Information.