The winners of the Diverse Book Awards 2023 have been announced, with one winner from each of the four categories announced: Picture book, Children... I'm really not very impressed with this, but that may be just me, as I have never really enjoyed Elizbeth Laird's books. I find them very flat and boring, and this one didn't feel any different from any of her other works. I think it is her writing style that I don't like, because I do appreciate the importance of the stories she tells, and I just think the execution of them is the thing that lets me down. It's tough in the camps. In the summer the weather is blisteringly hot, and in the winter it's bitterly cold. In Azraq particularly, where there is no electricity, people are really suffering. It's a scandal that the international community are not fulfilling their pledges to support those who have lost their homes and livelihoods through no fault of their own. Omar is 12 and he is proud of his town called Bosra in the country of Syria. Omar doesn't enjoy school like his older sister Eman and brother Musa. But life is good and he dreams of the day of being a businessman like his cousin and uncle. Halfway throughout the book I started questioning what age group this was targeted towards, before realising it was a children’s book. As such, I thought it was an excellent read. I think this is a brilliant way of informing younger generations, including myself, on what is really going on outside of our own country whilst ensuring that the focus is on the emotional impact the Syrian war has had on its people, rather than the politics of it all, which can seem overwhelming and dehumanising in the newspapers. This book emphasises the basic concept that lives have been ruined by this war. Real people who had lives like we do, who have been stripped down of everything they loved, becoming another faceless somebody amongst a sea of refugees.

Laird was born in New Zealand in 1943, the fourth of five children. Her father was a ship's surgeon; both he and Laird's mother were Scottish. In 1945, Laird and her family returned to Britain and she grew up in South London, where she was educated at Croydon High School.Sügavalt uuritakse teoses aga Omari vanemat venda Musat, kes põeb tserebraalparalüüsi. See on haigus, mille tõttu ei saa poiss korralikult ning arusaadavalt rääkida, lisaks hakkavad tema käed haiguse tagajärjel mõnikord tahtmatult tõmblema ning samuti on häiritud tema liikumine. Poissi peetakse haiguse tõttu hälvikuks ja narritakse sandiks, kuid asi, mida paljud tema kohta ei tea, on see, et poiss on tegelikult geenius. Tema riigivastane skeemitamine jääb haiguse tõttu tihtipeale ka kontrollivatel riigiametnikel märkamata, mis annab poisi loole kohati ka kerge huumorivõtme, kuid enamjaolt saab lugeda hoopis haigesse poissi mõnitavalt suhtuvatest inimestest ning nende põhjendamatutest eelarvamustest poisi suhtes. The only thing I will point out, which is a very little annoyance, was the ending. You can stop reading now if you don't want to know how it ends, but for those who do, it ends with the youngest daughter (2 years old I believe she was) having a heart condition and therefore they were all able to acquire visas to go to London for her treatment with help and references from the camp clinic. It ends with the siblings staying up all night talking about their plans and how their life is going to change once they get to the UK etc. It ended on such a high and positive note, and was portrayed as if all their problems will end once they reach London and I didn't really think that was very realistic. They may have better lives than the one they were leading at the Zaatari camp, but it doesn't mean it's going to be any easier. To learn a new language, to try and fit into a completely different culture and society, to be Arabs and Muslims in a Western country, to always be labeled as refugees...the journey doesn't end there, the struggle doesn't end there. This is just the beginning, and I had hoped that would be conveyed in a more realistic sense. When she was eighteen, Laird started teaching at a school in Malaysia. She decided to continue her adventurous life, even though she was bitten by a poisonous snake and went down with typhoid. However, I really loved the characters in this novel. There was such a diverse range of personalities throughout the story, and I was moved by how similar some of them were to people in my own life. It made me realise how this could easily have been me in their place. Overall, they were all so strong, each fighting their own internal battles as well as their shared ones. Each character was so unique and wonderful I just wished this book could have been longer to explore them a lot further, and build the relationships between them to a deeper level. Dapo Adeola, Tracy Darnton, Joseph Coelho and Chitra Soundar are among the 19 authors and illustrators longlisted for the Inclusive Books for Child...

This entire book reads like the first draft of an overly long plot summary rather than a novel. Everything is generic and incredibly rushed. It’s mostly all telling rather than showing, uses a crazy amount of passive voice and summarising, and is littered with typos (the sister ‘baldly’ saying something was a funny example) and a lot of very jarring and obviously British phrases (‘more fool you’, ‘blokes’, ‘dodgy’, etc.) that were just plain annoying and didn’t make me feel Laird had done much research at all, let alone actually met and talked with refugees or even kids/teenagers. The kids especially just felt like stereotyped British kids written by an adult who honestly doesn’t know how kids actually talk. There was also a large muddle of other odd and wrongly-placed words/phases — do mosques really have ‘sermons’, for example? Even if it’s a similar thing in terms of a religious leader teaching a crowd, I strongly doubt Islam uses the Christian term for it. Omar is only twelve, yet has a life style that will seem alien to the majority of readers. Living in Syria, Omar works to earn a wage as well as attends school, whilst also helping to care for his Cerebral-Palsy-suffering brother and three other siblings. Although Omar’s life is not easy, it is preferable to the events he is soon about to witness. Läbivaks teemaks oli teoses ka haridus. Omari emal seda muidugi polnud, kuigi ta oli kunagi üle kõige tahtnud õpetajaks saada. Ema rõõmuks jagab tema ammust unistust ka pere vanim tütar Eman, kes on koolis suurepärane õpilane, kuid kelle isa peatse kolimise ning pulmaplaanide tõttu tahab koolist ära võtta. Omar ise käib küll koolis, kuid vihkab seda kogu hingest. Omar ei näe koolipingi nühkimisel mõtet, kuna tema loodab hoopis äri teha ning selle läbi kiiresti rikkaks saada. I’ve read several of Laird’s books in the past and enjoyed them, especially her early books, but her last few have been disappointing in both quality and content, having lost any of the sensitivity, depth of character, and evident good research that made her early books enjoyable. This is a fantastic read, one that should become required school reading to educate on this crisis! Laird has obviously done her research, because she brought it all to life for me. So much so, that I almost wanted to Google Omar and his family after I had finished the book to find out what has become of them. That's an incredible feat, and I applaud her for it.I was filled with admiration for the resourcefulness and patience of the Syrian people who are managing somehow to look after their families, to care for each other, and retain their spirit and dignity in such tough circumstances. Although Welcome to Nowhere is set before the development of the extreme Muslim group, ISIS, Elizabeth Laird provides an accurate description of the lives of Syrians and refugees at this present moment. Most young readers, and possibly many adults, may not understand what caused the current refugee crisis and may even regard them as the enemy. This book will open hearts and minds after revealing the terror and destruction thousands of people have faced, their experience of refugee camps and their desperation to be able to live in safety. Elizabeth Laird’s subversive brilliance shines in new and unexpected ways with this masterpiece. The language, the story, and the personalities of each character are displayed finely throughout the text. This book, which was published in 2017 has historical references to the Syrian war which happened in March 2011. Bestselling author Alexandra Christo, author of TikTok sensation To Kill a Kingdom, introduces her new book, The Night Hunt (Hot Key Books), a dark... Leian, et kuna loo jutustab 12-aastane poisike Omar, on kogu teosel vaatamata sündmuste raskusele oma lapselik ja mänguline hõng juures. Tean, et see raamat on just seetõttu ka palju kriitikat saanud, kuidas autor nii valusaid teemasid lugejale kergemalt lugeda toob ning selle kõige juurde nn igapäevasust annab. Isiklikult leian, et kogu see mahategemine ei ole niivõrd õigustatud, kuna tegemist on siiski noorteromaaniga, mille eesmärk ongi eelkõige just nooremale lugejale arusaadavaks teha inimeste kannatusi, kelle saatus ei ole enam tingimata nende endi kätes ning selgitada sõja kui mõõtmatute tapatalgute tagajärgi. See annab mõista, et sõda ei ole vaid mängulahingud, mida lapsed üksteise vastu lume või veepüstolitega peavad.

Taking this journey with Omar and his family and really living these events with him, experiencing life as it was before the war and contrasting it with life during the war really puts things into perspective. I wasn't sure Elizabeth Laird would pull it off, but she did. Reading the descriptions of Syria before the war, the streets, the people, the markets, their lives...it made me so nostalgic, but also devastated at the immense loss.

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Twelve-year-old Omar and his brothers and sisters were born and raised in the beautiful and bustling city of Bosra, Syria. Omar doesn’t care about politics – all he wants is to grow up to become a successful businessman who will take the world by storm. But when his clever older brother, Musa, gets mixed up with some young political activists, everything changes . . . Before long, bombs are falling, people are dying, and Omar and his family have no choice but to flee their home with only what they can carry. Yet no matter how far they run, the shadow of war follows them – until they have no other choice than to attempt the dangerous journey to escape their homeland altogether. But where do you go when you can’t go home? Before long, bombs are falling, people are dying, and Omar and his family have no choice but to flee their home with only what they can carry. Yet no matter how far they run, the shadow of war follows them - until they have no other choice than to attempt the dangerous journey to escape their homeland altogether. But where do you go when you can't go home? After attending the university in Bristol, Laird began teaching English in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. She and a friend would hire mules and go into remote areas in the holidays.

This story ends on a cliffhanger leaving the readers in suspense about what is going to happen next. Is Nadia going to be alright? Are the Hooligans going to follow them? Will the people in London be nice?

Twelve year old Omar and his brothers and sisters were born and raised in the beautiful city of Bosra in Syria. Omar doesn't care about politics. He just wants to grow up to become a successful businessman who will take the world by storm. but his older brother Musa is desperate to play his part in the struggle against oppression while their sister, Eman, has only one ambition - to finish her education and become a teacher. Welcome to Nowhere is a powerful and beautifully written story about the life of one family caught up in civil war by the award-winning author Elizabeth Laird, shortlisted for the Scottish Teen Book Award and winner of the UKLA Book Award. Elizabeth Lairdi noorteromaan “Tere tulemast eikuhugi” on üks neist raamatutest, mis väga lihtsakoeliselt, kuid tõhusalt avab noorte silmaringi ning õpetab olulisi tõdesid inimese väärtushinnangute kohta. Raamatu peategelaseks on teismeline poiss Omar, kes elab oma 6-liikmelise perega Süürias ühes kenas väikeses linnas. Omar on usin poiss, kes üritab leida tasakaalu oma kahe töökoha ja kooli vahel. Tema suurim unistus on kunagi saada suureks ärimeheks ja avada oma enda turismipood. Poisi unistused saavad aga purustatud, kui päikselises Süürias puhkeb äkitselt kodusõda ja Omari perekond on sunnitud põgenema ühest kohast teise kuni jõuavad lõpuks üle piiri Jordaania põgenikelaagrisse. Twelve-year-old Omar and his brothers and sisters were born and raised in the beautiful and bustling city of Bosra, Syria. Omar doesn't care about politics - all he wants is to grow up to become a successful businessman who will take the world by storm. But when his clever older brother, Musa, gets mixed up with some young political activists, everything changes . . . Coffee house Caffè Nero has announced the 16-strong shortlist for the inaugural Nero Book Awards, recognising the outstanding books of the past 12...