Journey of the Midnight Sun
by Shazia Afzal, illustrated by Aliya Ghare
Orca Books Publishers
A beautiful picture book based on the true story of the Midnight Sun Mosque that traveled 4,000 kilometers across Canada to become one of the most northern mosques in the Arctic Circle.
This is the true story of the journey of the Midnight Sun Mosque.
In 2010 a Winnipeg-based charity raised funds to build and ship a mosque to Inuvik, one of the most northern towns in Canada’s Arctic. A small but growing Muslim community there had been using a cramped trailer for their services, but there just wasn’t enough space. The mosque travelled over 4,000 kilometers on a journey fraught with poor weather, incomplete bridges, narrow roads, low traffic wires and a deadline to get on the last barge heading up the Mackenzie River before the first winter freeze. But it made it just in time and is now one of the most northern mosques in the world.
This beautiful picture book reminds us that the collective dream of fostering a multicultural and tolerant Canada exists and that people of all backgrounds will come together to build bridges and overcome obstacles for the greater good of their neighbors.
Review: Salma the Syrian Chef by Danny Ramadan. Illus. by Anna Bron. 40 pp. Annick Press. Released 3/10/2020. Tr $21.95. ISBN 978-1773213750. Preschool to Grade 3.
Salma and her mother are Syrian Muslim refugees living at the Welcome Center for new immigrants in Vancouver, Canada. They both miss home and hope that one day soon Salma’s papa will be able to join them. Mama’s long days are filled with English classes and job interviews. Her fatigue and sadness, juxtaposed to Salma’s youthful joy and hope are viscerally heart-wrenching and the reader feels deeply for Salma in her efforts to make her Mama smile, let alone elicit a happy laugh. Salma attempts a joke but Mama only responds with a “sad smile, full of love, but empty of joy.”
Encouraged by Nancy, assumed to be a Welcome Center employee or coordinator, Salma draws back on her good memories. Though Salma realizes that she can’t bring her Papa to be with them sooner, or rebuild their own home in Damascus, there is something she can do to make her Mama happy.
Salma wants to make her mother’s favorite dish, foul shami, but doesn’t have the recipe. Jad, the Jordanian translator helps find a recipe for her, but Salma realizes that she doesn’t know the English names of the vegetables she will need. Creatively, she finds a way to get around the language barrier by drawing pictures of the ingredients she needs. With the encouragement and help of other friends at the Welcome Center—Amir and Malek, a couple from Lebanon; Granny Donya, an older Iranian woman who wears a headscarf, and Ayesha, wearing a pink headscarf and jeans, Salma gets most of the ingredients for the recipe. It’s implied that Ayesha is Somali as she brings Salma home-baked Somalian sweets.
Ramadan captures Salma’s range of emotions and seamlessly weaves in bits of information about the other kids at the Welcome Center through their interactions with Salma—i.e. Ayman misses kushari; Riya misses the masala dosas her mama made in India; and Evan, who recently arrived from Venezuela, misses arepas— highlighting the commonality of the refugee and immigrant experience, and the complexity of feelings of loss, adjustment, and belonging. The interactions between the new immigrants give off feelings of familial warmth, where in moments of frustration Salma is encouraged to see that this home is “beautiful in its own ways.” These interactions are also intentional and powerful; through them Salma’s agency is highlighted while giving fortification and joy to each individual. Bron’s bright, detailed illustrations enrich the text, through character movement and evoking palpable emotions. Bron uses Syrian-inspired geometric patterns to frame illustrations adding cultural depth to each spread. The resulting work is a poignant and universal tale of finding home and belonging, emphasizing the importance of people and community.
Journey of the Midnight Sun
Review: Salma the Syrian Chef by Danny Ramadan. Illus. by Anna Bron. 40 pp. Annick Press. Released 3/10/2020. Tr $21.95. ISBN 978-1773213750. Preschool to Grade 3.
