Wild Poppies

by Haya Saleh, Marcia L. Qualey (Illustrator)

Overview

Two brothers fight to reunite amidst the turmoil of the Syrian War.

Since the passing of their father, Omar has tried—and in his little brother Sufyan’s eyes, failed—to be the man of his family of Syrian refugees. As Omar waits in line for rations, longing for the books he left behind when his family fled their home, Sufyan explores more nontraditional methods to provide for his family. Ignoring his brother’s warnings, Sufyan gets more and more involved with a group that provides him with big rewards for doing seemingly inconsequential tasks.

When the group abruptly gets more intense—taking Sufyan and other boys away from their families, teaching them how to shoot guns—Sufyan realizes his brother is right. But is it too late for Sufyan to get out of this?

It’s left to the bookish Omar to rescue his brother and reunite his family. He will have to take charge and be brave in ways he has never dared to before.

P R A I S E

“Poignant.”
—Foreword

“Hauntingly hopeful.”
—Kirkus

“Powerful.”
—School Library Connection

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781646143252
Publisher:	Levine Querido
Publication date:	06/02/2023
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	176
Sales rank:	290,047
File size:	3 MB
Age Range:	10 - 14 Years

About the Author

Haya Saleh is a novelist, critic, writer and trainer in the field of child culture, from the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.

Marcia Lynx Qualey won a 2021 Palestine Book Award for her translation of Sonia Nimr's YA novel Wondrous Journeys in Amazing Lands, and her translation of the first book in Sonia's Thunderbird series will be out in Spring 2022. She is also founding editor of ArabLit and ArabLit Quarterly, and co-host of the BULAQ literary podcast.

Editorial Reviews

05/08/2023

Until war came to Syria, 15-year-old Omar lived happily with his 12-year-old brother Sufyan, six-year-old sister Thoraya, and their parents in the Syrian city of Raqqun, attending school, playing soccer, and helping his father tend the family farm. But when bombing begins and their father is killed by shrapnel, the boys move with Thoraya and their diabetic mother to a relative’s packed country home in village Al-Nuaman—“the poppy flower.” There, each family worries about food, water, and medicine, and the brothers clash over how to care for their loved ones. Clever, moody Sufyan, who sees Omar as a weakling and a coward, starts disappearing on increasingly risky missions to meet their needs. Often-unsure-of-himself Omar, meanwhile, steadfastly queues in hope of buying rationed supplies, and tries unsuccessfully to rein in Sufyan’s potentially dangerous activities. When Sufyan’s unwitting connection to a religious extremist group leads to his kidnapping, Omar and two friends set out to find him, taking a treacherous journey through the wilderness. In Qualey’s smooth translation, Omar and Sufyan’s alternating first-person sections thoughtfully explore myriad devastations around an ongoing crisis, including chilling details regarding Sufyan’s abduction, while the novel’s lean format provides just the right amount of tension and suspense. Ages 10–14. (May)

Publishers Weekly

Poignant” — Foreword Reviews

“Hauntingly hopeful” — Kirkus

[STAR] “Stark without ever losing sight of hope or the humanity that picks itself up from the rubble of others’ folly, Saleh’s novel blooms with unforgettable beauty.”— Booklist (starred)

“Chilling.” — Publishers Weekly

“Saleh’s prose, translated from Arabic, is elegant but direct, avoiding descriptions of violence without dulling the emotional impact of the tragedies in these brothers’ lives. Omar and Sufyan just want safety and reliable sources of food (and maybe some video games), and their alternating perspectives give readers two access points to a story that shines a light on the threats, both present and in the future, that refugee children face.” – Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books 

“A moving portrait of the horrors of armed conflict” — Horn Book

From the Publisher

2023-03-29
A tale of two brothers set against the backdrop of the Syrian civil war.

After fleeing the violence that destroyed his family’s home and led to the death of his father, 15-year-old Omar diffidently steps into his role as head of the family. Living with his mother and younger brother and sister in his aunt Sajida’s home in Al-Nuaman (“the poppy flower”), Omar must obtain rations and other necessities, including medicine for their diabetic mother, while also trying to keep intractable Sufyan, 12, in line and his own heavy feelings at bay. Angry and unimpressed by his brother’s feeble attempts, Sufyan secretly provides for his family only to be coerced and abducted by the Falcons of Truth, a group of Muslim extremists seeking to indoctrinate and use child soldiers. Distraught over Sufyan’s disappearance, Omar attempts to find him, but soon further violence comes to the village and threatens his friends’ and family’s survival. Throughout this novel, which alternates between Omar’s and Sufyan’s perspectives, the brothers make thoughtful and heartbreaking observations about the cruelties of war, the loss of childhood innocence, and the hypocrisy of the Falcons, whose theology and practices sharply contrast with their own understandings of God and Islam. Saleh’s prose, translated from Arabic by Qualey, is accessible and straightforward. Though the novel is short, it carries deep emotional impact, and while the ending is somewhat abrupt, it’s imbued with themes of reconciliation and healing.

Hauntingly hopeful. (Fiction. 10-14)

Kirkus Reviews