Product Description

Mohammed was born on 20 August 1994 in Kirkuk - the Kurdish part of Iraq. He speaks Kurdish, and now English too. Saddam Hussein persecuted Mohammed's people long before he was born but Mohammed's journey started in October 2000 when Saddam's soldiers came to his house, beat him and his mother and took his father away. Mohammed never saw his father again. This is his story. From that terrible night, to the escape from Iraq by bus, on horseback, in an inflatable raft on a raging river and finally, hiding in a lorry on a ship. It covers his journey from Kirkuk to the Iraq-Iran border, through Iran, into Turkey and then on to England and safety. Mohammed and his mother we were granted 'leave to stay' in England in 2002.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #923909 in Books
• Published on: 2009-02-19
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 32 pages

Review
The true story of Mohammed, a young Kurdish boy. Told through his own words, the story relates hardships and terrors experienced and the journey his family made to see asylum in England. A thoughtful and moving account. --The Bookseller Buyers Guide

This book tells an important contemporary story from the perspective of a child: of one family's struggle to survive; of their escape from a cruel and inhuman military regime to seek refuge in a country where they are granted the opportunity to establish a life free from persecution and brutality. The final pages of the book augment the personal account with factual, political and historical information about Iraq. --IBBY Link

The full import of this [situation] can hardly be conveyed in a book that is intended for a pre-teen audience, although it is good to see it attempted. The matter-of-fact text and the restrained illustrations resist the exploitation of suffering and indignity and offer enough support to the text to provoke the reader's empathetic imagination. Colour photographs mounted as if in a scrapbook of snap shots, remind us that this is happened not so long ago and is still happening to children who sit in British classrooms. --Books for Keeps

About the Author
Anthony Robinson is an author of children's books and an author, consultant and teacher in English Language Teaching. He has lived and travelled all over the world, from his original home in Australia to Southeast Asia and Europe, from Japan to Edinburgh, and now lives in Cambridge. He is particularly interested in comparing and contrasting real children's lives, be they refugees who have fled their own countries, children living normal lives in vastly different cultures, or children living in difficult circumstances. June Allan can't remember a time when she didn't love drawing. Her Mum says she used to sit and draw in her pram! After graduating from Edinburgh College of Art in 1971 with a Diploma specializing in Painting and Glass Design, she taught in various secondary schools until 1986, when she started to paint portraits professionally. In 1999 she ventured into the field of children's book illustration, and since then has illustrated many children's books. June lives in Edinburgh with her husband and two children, two guinea pigs, Holly and Fern and lots of goldfish. Annemarie Young is an author, publisher and editorial consultant, in children's books and primary education. She has lived and travelled all over the world, from her original home in Australia to Southeast Asia and Europe, from Egypt to Edinburgh, and now lives in Cambridge. She has worked with over 100 children's authors and illustrators from all corners of the globe, and loves the whole process of publishing, from the first exciting ideas, to the often heated discussions about how to realise those ideas, all the way to checking colour proofs and finally seeing the printed book.