MARIAM'S DREAM: More Than a Food Truck!

Mariam Al-Shaar, the subject of this delicious new picture book profile, was born in a Lebanese refugee camp, into a Palestinian family that had fled there years before her birth. It didn't matter that she was born there, Mariam and the other refugees (arrivals and those born in the camp) had no way to claim identity or rights. They were forbidden the rights of citizens of Lebanon, and Palestine has no country to declare rights to its members. Life in a refugee camp offers few opportunities to make money or improve conditions, but women had even fewer rights. 

CHRONICLE BOOKS, 2025

The author's note and other back matter for MARIAM'S DREAM: The Story of Mariam Al-Shaar and Her Food Truck of Hope provide fascinating details about refugees, recipes, and specifics that are not part of the main text and illustrations.

Author Leila Boukarim and illustrator Sana Avedikian created a text and visual narrative that delivers a genuinely tragic story, one that reflects its seriousness but also celebrates the promise of hope and commitment. Refugees live "between worlds", surrounded by walls, witnessing the struggles of those contained within the camps. 

Despite this grim reality, portrayed clearly but without extremes, the joyful journey and success of young Mariam is trumpeted in vibrant endpapers, active scenes, and Mariam's process of rallying the women to learn, share, produce and supply traditional foods within their camp. 

(Full disclosure, I am not an adventurous eater and avoid spicy foods because of a touchy gut, but the images of food prep and products had me nearly drooling!)

Following Mariam's heroic efforts to gather the needed ingredients, personnel, and means to prepare traditional foods, at last... a SOUFRA IS BORN. A feast, a table full of food. Step one in Mariam's dream is achieved. The next steps are increasingly complex, centering around obtaining and operating a food truck to extend the reach of their success. Sometimes writers are encouraged to provide three obstacles to overcome, making a happy ending even more satisfying. In the case of Mariam and her food truck, the obstacles were countless! Some were based on money (of course), some on refugee status (sadly), and even more had to do with the birth-fact that Mariam and the others were WOMEN (tragic), without rights sometimes allowed even to male refugees. 

The text incorporates the language of WALLS, blockades to reaching a dream, but not simply walls of wire or brick. You and I both know that had she not succeeded we wouldn't be reading this book. That, though, is in no way a "spoiler" for a story worth reading. By anyone. At any age. This picture book is a terrific example of suiting many purposes and audiences. Read through and examine closely. It's a wonderful example of how nonfiction, even biographic profiles, can be original and clever in their storytelling and appeal. It is also suited for curricular connections involving geography, rights, and current events. It's a delightful invitation for cross-cultural menu discovery, and also a math-class bonus for considering small scale economics and government regulations and consequences.

 What I'm getting at is that this is a contemporary work that is an ideal way to launch WOMEN'S HISTORY MONTH. This theme month is among many that are under assault in current politics, and the click/link for women's history has an undeniable focus on the past and on figures form USA history. In fact, even the most notable women of the past faced many similar obstacles and walls to the ones Mariam faced, and many did not have their stories documented. A topic so rarely dealt with in adult media let alone children's literature is presented here as a universal and uplifting one, a story and life that can teach lessons across geography and time. Dreaming. Persisting.  Dreaming. Innovating. And ... always... dreaming.

HOME in a LUNCH BOX: A Universal, Any-Age Story

 I've been giving lots of time and attention to nonfiction picture books lately, so I welcome this pause to celebrate a minimal-text/nearly wordless new book of fiction. It feels "just right" on many levels and I hope you'll agree. HOME IN A LUNCHBOX is the tasteful, heart-tugging work of writer/illustrator Cherry Mo. It was the well-deserved winner of a Caldecott Honor Medal recently, and many other accolades.

This fiction picture book accomplishes what often occurs- that HUMAN TRUTH, the kind of universal realities that all or many of us experience, can reveal itself most clearly through fiction. The author/illustrator reports that this story mirrors many aspects of her own childhood relocation with her loving family, and she has captured every child-like element of such an exciting-terrifying-hopeful-heartbreaking aspect of the major change that launches this story.

PENGUIN WORKSHOP, 2024

 

In this case, a young girl and her parents move from Hong Kong to a small American town, a story in itself that is told with a visual transition on the opening end papers. On the left is a complex and ultra-urban prior home, but a road travels to the right with the image of a truck labeled INTERNATIONAL MOVERS. That  transports readers to a simpler, seemingly suburban neighborhood. It's a seismic journey of thousands of miles captured on endpapers!

Title page illustrations and those that follow (full page illustrations, strips, panels, and double-spread pages) use minimal text: only brief speech bubbles, iconic signs, or words (in two languages) written on the palm of Jun's hand.  Each image is powerful in carrying the plot narrative and the deep emotions throughout Jun's efforts to be friendly, meet people, understand a totally foreign language, and interpret the confused reponses she gets to her efforts. 

It is at lunch time, sitting alone, when Jun is transported back to her loving family and prior life whenever she opens her lunchbox. The comfort of delicious memories, literally and figuratively, gives her the strength to make it home, off the bus, and into her mother's arms that first day. 

Each day after reveals more roadblocks and hurdles, but the bus-riding neighbor girl who wanted to be friendly is effectively shown throughout as noticing, as growing in awareness of Jun not just as someone new, or even an outsider, but as a child like herself, one with something to to say and do. That observant friend eventually plays a pivotal role, as do the contents of the lunchbox. A not too surprising happy ending does not disappoint because the scene shifts and reveals even more cultural specialties shared with new-found friends. A few pages of back matter provide the phonetic spelling for the words on Jun's hands, as well as the names for the foods featured in the lunchbox and during the conclusion. The closing end papers provide a Jun-styled art display of her contrasting homes that are fun to compare to the opening papers in content and style. 

Return for a moment to the premise with which I began: fiction can artfully convey the deepest truths. Leaving home is never easy. Being the "new kid" is challenging, even without language and cultural differences. We all need talismans of comfort, and food often does the trick. When  things get difficult, seek refuge among your safe people, but return again to face those difficulties. And hold on to the child within you- those emotions are some of the purest, truest, most constructive of any you will ever feel. Last, but not finally (since this story of few words offers depths of story levels), when you see someone struggle or in need of a friend, reach out. And then do it again, if the first time goes awry. EMPATHY is not a weakness it is a feature of maturity and humanity, not a glitch.

I can think of no better book to share as widely and often as possible and no better time than now.