Taking Flight

In second-person prose and close-hatched, realistic images, Sheth and Carozzi’s deeply felt tale braids together tales of three young refugees. A dark-haired child in a red scarf leaves a Tibet-like “highland home,/ where clouds dance with snowy peaks.” A youth with brown hair and worn boots drifts across the ocean in a boat after leaving a landscape that hints at Syria’s cotton fields. And a blonde child who “left your beloved city/ with sparkling, domed-roof churches” runs wide-eyed while fleeing a place that reads as Ukraine. Each child travels to a refugee camp and an unknown new land, then bears witness to first glimmers of connection and friendship as they meet other children and “all try to belong together.” Digitally enhanced graphite illustrations crisply portray the youths’ homelands and individual experiences in a title that spotlights difficult, necessary journeys and ends with images of hope. Characters are portrayed with various abilities and skin tones. Ages 4–8. (Apr.)