A sweet story of Salma, recently immigrating to Canada from Syria with her mother. Facing the difficulties of a new culture both Salma and her mother miss her father, who is still in Syria, waiting to join them. Salma sees her mother's face, which was once full of joy now seems sad. Salma wants to do something for Mama. She tries drawing her a picture, but it just doesn't do. Salma decides that her mother misses Syrian food. She asks Jad, a Jordanian translator to help her find a recipe for foul shami. Seeking the aid of the adults around her, she gets the ingredients, and with many spills, broken bottles, and mistakes, she makes her mother's favorite dish. When her Mama comes home, the foul shami is waiting for her. With a knock on the door, all the adults that helped Salma have come to join in...with her mother smiling with joy.
The beauty of the story is the diversity of adults and students who come to Salma's aid. Classmates from Egypt, India, and Venezuela; her Canadian teacher, the Jordanian interpreter, her Somalian caretaker, a Lebanese gay couple, and a Persian grandmother...all there to help. A story of international cooperation. The only thing missing is a recipe for foul shami!
Mark's Book Picks Score: 3
Reading Level: 2.0 • Interest Level: P-2 • AR Points: NA • Lexile Level: 570L • Publisher: Annick Press • Pages: 40 • Copyright: 2020 • ISBN: 978-1-7732-1375-0 • Available in Perma-Bound Binding
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