The Unwanted

by Don Brown

[Beth C.]

This is my first Don Brown book, and I am now a fan. In fact, I'm giving it 5 stars not only because of the content, but because it's rare that I buy two more of an author's books before I've even finished the first one. To me, that is worth a star on its own.

This one, The Unwanted, is...a heavy, fraught topic. There are many in my country, and around the world, who have found it easy to dehumanize refugees of ANY nationality, forgetting that for many, their own families were once forced to leave their own homes for a variety of reasons. I appreciate the fact that Brown let this book center on the refugees themselves - and he discusses why in a note at the end of the book. I think this goes a long way towards not only showing them as the vulnerable people they are, but removing much of the stigma that could be attached depending on religious identity.

This book was heartbreaking. The idea that a mother needed to feed her infant sleeping pills to keep them quiet during a crossing...as a mom of two, I just...it's horrendous. But the book - both the story AND the images - are sensitive in their content, while still managing to convey the horrific conditions these people are fleeing, and those they end up stuck living in.

This would be good for classrooms. But honestly, so many people should read this. It's easy to forget that these people (and others similar) are human beings, trying only to make a better - safer! - life for them and their families. The systems are broken, and people suffer the more for it.