The Blue Scarf

by Mohamed Danawi, Ruaida Mannaa (Illustrator)

Overview

An inspiring story about cultural identity, being true to oneself, and finding a new home as a refugee.

Layla lives in a beautiful blue world. One day, her mother gives her a gift—a blue scarf that Layla lovingly wears around her neck. But when a gust of wind carries the scarf away, Layla sets out to find it, traveling by boat to various worlds of different colors. But her scarf is nowhere to be found. Eventually, Layla lands at the shores of a Rainbow world and discovers the secret of her lost scarf while also finding a welcoming new home. A beautiful and poignant refugee story about identity, emigration, and acceptance told by Mohamed Danawi and brought to life in gorgeous color by illustrator Ruaida Mannaa.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780762478897
Publisher:	Running Press Book Publishers
Publication date:	10/04/2022
Pages:	48
Product dimensions:	9.30(w) x 9.35(h) x 0.70(d)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Mohamed Danawi is an illustrator, college professor, and founder of Illozoo, a visual communication agency, representing artists from around the world. He left Lebanon at age 18 during the civil war to start a new life in Canada then the United States. He currently lives in Savannah, Georgia. The Blue Scarf is his first children's book. 

Ruaida Mannaa is a Colombian/Lebanese Illustrator and Designer. Her background includes several design projects as well as experience as a Digital Design professor. She grew up in a multicultural family, surrounded by different languages, loud parties, and delicious food! So culture and cultural exchange are her greatest inspiration. Ruaida graduated from the Savannah College of Art and Design with a Master of Fine Arts in Illustration. She currently works with clients all over the world.

Editorial Reviews

The author and illustrator each build on their Lebanese heritage to promote pride in one's own culture and acceptance of all people, wherever you live.”—Booklist

From the Publisher

08/26/2022

K-Gr 2—A well-intentioned allegory for the immigrant experience is muddled in the execution. After a young blue girl named Layla loses her blue scarf during a violent storm, she sets off on a journey around the world to find it. The people of every monochrome nation—the purples, the greens, the oranges—say they have not seen her blue scarf, effectively turning her away. Only when she finds a melting pot world of every color does she realize the scarf was with her the entire time. Layla proudly wears her scarf and stays in this new land. Despite the story's requirement of a monochrome palette, the illustrations are vivid and vibrant. By stripping down cultures for the purpose of its allegorical nature, however, the artwork borders on racial stereotyping. The yellow nation is depicted as Middle Eastern and the Chinese nation a red one, with a character who has slanted eyes. Africa is shown as tribal and primitive. The book ends with a message advising readers to be proud of their identity. VERDICT Poetry gives way to problematic images that will seem thoughtless and insensitive. Not recommended.—Chance Lee Joyner

School Library Journal

2022-09-14
Seeking a beloved lost belonging, Layla embarks on a journey.

Layla, a blue-skinned, dark-haired girl, enjoys an idyllic childhood in the world of Blue. When fire falls from the sky and carries away the treasured scarf her mother gave her, she sails across the sea in search of it. In the worlds of Green, Yellow, Red, Orange, and Purple (where cultural symbols and attire imply European, Middle Eastern, Asian, African, and Latin American settings respectively), the inhabitants, uninterested in other colors, send her away. But when she arrives in the Rainbow world, the people, who are diverse in skin tone, help her find the object (a note at the end makes clear that the scarf symbolizes identity). As she wraps herself in the scarf, she is welcomed to a new, more accepting land. Though the artwork is attractive, with graphic shapes and shaded textures, the stereotypical imagery is jarring—in the world of Red, Layla meets East Asian people with lines for eyes, including a geishalike figure, along with a dragon and a tiger; in the world of Orange, she encounters Black people wearing tribal marks and masks in a desert landscape as well as a monkey, a giraffe, and a cheetah. While the rather simplistic messages of inclusivity and embracing one’s identity may resonate with readers, they are lost amid the illustrations, which distill these rich cultures down to the level of cliché. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

A well-meaning lesson in acceptance and identity overshadowed by flattening and problematic cultural depictions. (Picture book. 4-7)

Kirkus Reviews