Where Butterflies Fill the Sky: A Story of Immigration, Family, and Finding Home

A New York Times/New York Public Library Best Illustrated Children's Book
One of NPR's Best Books of 2022
Chicago Public Library's Best of the Best Informational Books for Younger Readers of 2022
A School Library Journal Best Book of 2022
The Society of Illustrators' Dilys Evans Founders Award Winner 2022
Zahra Marwan is a recipient of the United Nations Minority Artist Award on Statelessness

An evocative picture book debut that tells the true story of the author's immigration from Kuwait to the United States.

Zahra lives in a beautiful place where the desert reaches all the way to the sea and one hundred butterflies always fill the sky. When Baba and Mama tell her that their family is no longer welcome here and they must leave, Zahra wonders if she will ever feel at home again--and what about the people she will leave behind? But when she and her family arrive in a new desert, she's surprised to find magic all around her. Home might not be as far away as she thought it would be.

With spare, moving text and vivid artwork, Zahra Marwan tells the true story of her and her family's immigration from Kuwait, where they were considered stateless, to New Mexico, where together they made a new home.

"Utterly original and enjoyable from start to finish." --Betsy Bird, librarian, book critic, and author of Long Road to the Circus

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Published: 03/29/2022
Pages: 48
Weight: 1.05lbs
Size: 10.10h x 10.00w x 0.60d
ISBN: 9781547606511
Age: Ages 4-8

Accelerated Reader:
Reading Level: 2.1
Point Value: 0.5
Interest Level: Lower Grade
Quiz #/Name: 520191 / Where Butterflies Fill the Sky: A Story of Immigration, Family, and Finding Home


Award: Ezra Jack Keats Book Award - Honor Book


Review Citation(s):
Kirkus Reviews 01/01/2022
School Library Journal 02/01/2022 pg. 92
Bulletin of Ctr for Child Bks 03/01/2022 - Book Of Special Distinction
Booklist 02/15/2022 pg. 47
Horn Book Magazine 03/01/2022
Shelf Awareness 03/29/2022
Publishers Weekly 06/27/2022

About the Author

Zahra Marwan grew up in two deserts -- one close to the sea in Kuwait, the other close to the mountains in New Mexico. She is a fine artist who exhibits extensively and has won international awards and fellowships, including the SCBWI Mentorship Award. She studied the visual arts in France and currently lives in the Barelas neighborhood of Albuquerque, New Mexico.
zahramarwan.com
@two_desert