This poignant picture book focuses on immigration, language barriers, and the profound beauty of multicultural friendships. A young Moroccan immigrant girl named Saida arrives at a school in Spain. The narrator, a classmate, notices that Saida seems to have “lost her words” because she is silent and visibly homesick. Upon learning from her parents that Saida actually speaks Arabic rather than English/Spanish, the narrator sets out to build a connection. The two girls begin exchanging words, practicing pronunciations, and exploring the similarities and differences between their worlds. As their communication blossoms, the pages transform into a whimsical landscape where English and Arabic words dance and actively bridge the gaps between them. Ultimately, the book delivers a powerful message about destroying unwelcome barriers like “borders” through mutual understanding. The exquisite, hand-painted illustrations were created using acrylic paint, colored pencils, and crayons. Language is brought to life visually. Letters and words physically float across the pages, sprout wings like birds, tumble out of mouths, and weave the two girls together. The Arabic and English alphabets are integrated directly into the artwork. The illustrations also cleverly blend cultural elements, including landscapes where Western-style houses sit alongside Moroccan architecture, visually blending Saida’s past and present. The book includes phonetic pronunciations and a comprehensive backmatter chart displaying both the English and Arabic alphabets.
Title: The Day Saida Arrived
Author: Susana Gomez Redondo
Illustrator: Sonja Wimmer
Publisher: Blue Dot Kids Press. San Francisco, CA
Copyright: 2020
Original Language: Spanish
Translator: Lawrence Schimel
Original Title: El dia que Saida llego
Original Publisher: Tatatuka SL. Barcelona, Spain
Original Copyright: 2012
ISBN: 978-17331-21255
Hardcover pages: 32
Age range: 3-7
Genre: Picture book
Book setting: Spain
Author’s ethnicity: Spanish
Author’s residence: Spain
Illustrator’s ethnicity: German
Illustrator’s residence: Spain
Subjects: Arabic language, Culture, Diversity, Emotion, Feelings, Immigration, Languages, Morocco, Words
Narrated by a young refugee, this beautiful and realistic picture book tells about having to leave home and the healing power of hope. The girl and her mother used to live in an apartment with a star-shaped lamp in their window. In their new country, everything is different – the language, their apartment, and the food. One day, the mother brings home art supplies so that they can make a cardboard star just like the one they had back home. That helps to make their new place feel a little more like home. The penultimate page shows the girl with a new friend, both carrying their musical instruments. The mostly blue and yellow illustrations were created with hand drawn contours and Photoshop. An author’s note explains that the book was inspired by Desnitskaya’s experience leaving Russia after the start of the Ukraine War. It is the author’s hope that his book can help children from different countries who have lost their homes to start loving the place where they were forced to be. 
Set in 1980s Vietnam, Tho and his best friend, Lam, love cricket fighting, and soccer, but there is fear in his village that twelve-year-old boys, like them, will be conscripted into the Communist army. People are trying to leave Vietnam and move to safer countries. One day, Lam and his brother disappear. Tho’s family sells their furniture to make money to send Tho and his brother, Vu, away. Vu leaves first and a year later Tho boards a small boat to escape. He stows away on a pirate boat, crosses the South China Sea, and eventually gets to a refugee camp in Palawon in the Philippines, where he stays for six months. Finally, a Canadian elementary school teacher adopts him and he flies to his new home in Toronto. This harrowing story is based on true events in the author’s life. A map, a pronunciation guide, an afterword, and a brief recent history of Vietnam further enhance Tho’s intense account of his journey. 
After her parents’ divorce, ten-year-old Electra (Ellie) moves to a new town with her mother and older brother. She is a spunky and stubborn girl who wants to make friends at her new school. Unfortunately, all of her new classmates are into sports and her mother pushes her to join a sports team. She is clumsy, fails at every sport, and consequently gets bullied. One night she attends a ballet performance with her family and discovers that what she really wants to do is dance. A new boy at school helps her to realize her dream. This positive graphic novel for middle graders is filled with humor and energetic cartoon illustrations that will make young readers smile. mjw
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