''When Stars Are Scattered'' is a nonfiction young adult graphic novel written by Victoria Jamieson and Omar Mohamed, illustrated by Victoria Jamieson and Iman Geddy, and published April 14, 2020, by

Dial Books The Dial Press was a publishing house founded in 1923 by Lincoln MacVeagh. The Dial Press shared a building with ''The Dial'' and Scofield Thayer worked with both. The first imprint was issued in 1924. Authors included Elizabeth Bowen, W. R. Bu ...

. Alongside other honors, the book won the

Walter Dean Myers Award The Walter Dean Myers Award for Outstanding Children's Literature, known as "The Walters,” was created by the American nonprofit We Need Diverse Books (WNDB) in 2014, and the inaugural award was presented in 2016. Named after young adult author ...

for Young Readers and Bank Street Children's Book Committee's

Josette Frank Award The Josette Frank Award is an American children's literary award for fiction given annually by the Children's Book Committee at Bank Street College of Education. It "honors a book or books of outstanding literary merit in which children or young peo ...

Plot

''When Stars Are Scattered'' follows co-author Mohamed and his younger brother, Hassan, who were born in Somalia and fled to a

refugee camp A refugee camp is a temporary settlement built to receive refugees and people in refugee-like situations. Refugee camps usually accommodate displaced people who have fled their home country, but camps are also made for internally displaced peo ...

in Kenya when they were toddlers. Although an older woman adopted the brothers, they never stopped searching for their mother. While at the camp, Mohamed was often forced to choose between his own education and caring for Hassan, who was nonverbal and had seizures. Eventually, they were able to move to the United States.

Reception

Reviews

''When Stars Are Scattered'' was generally well-received, including starred reviews from '' Booklist'', ''

The Horn Book ''The Horn Book Magazine'', founded in Boston in 1924, is the oldest bimonthly magazine dedicated to reviewing children's literature. It began as a "suggestive purchase list" prepared by Bertha Mahony Miller and Elinor Whitney Field, proprietres ...

'', ''

Kirkus Reviews ''Kirkus Reviews'' (or ''Kirkus Media'') is an American book review magazine founded in 1933 by Virginia Kirkus (1893–1980). The magazine is headquartered in New York City. ''Kirkus Reviews'' confers the annual Kirkus Prize to authors of fic ...

'', '' Publishers Weekly'', and '' School Library Journal.'' Writing for ''School Library Journal'', Steven Engelfried said, "The writing is intriguing and easy to understand. The graphics are beautiful and really bring the characters to the page. Omar’s story is important, relevant, and relatable." ''Kirkus Reviews'' wrote, "This engaging, heartwarming story does everything one can ask of a book, and then some." The audiobook, which has 12 narrators, received a starred review from ''Booklist'', who said, the audiobook "offers listeners an experience of perfection in its storytelling, format shifting, and performance." ''When Stars Are Scattered'' was named one of the best books of 2020 by the Chicago Public Library, ''Kirkus Reviews,'' the

New York Public Library The New York Public Library (NYPL) is a public library system in New York City. With nearly 53 million items and 92 locations, the New York Public Library is the second largest public library in the United States (behind the Library of Congress ...

, '' The New York Times,'' NPR, ''Publishers Weekly,'' and ''School Library Journal.''

Awards and honors

Both the book and audiobook editions of ''When Stars Are Scattered'' are Junior Library Guild selections.

References

{{American Library Association Dial Press books 2020 graphic novels 2020 non-fiction books Novels set in Kenya