What a poignant story that is reflective of so many children and their parents across the world. The story of Adnan is simple but heartbreaking. My heart broke for his mom but also for Adnan who is trying to piece her back together. I always feel so much for children who are forced to grow up too quickly.

The illustrations in this story completely enhance the story, in fact they are of upmost importance to the story development. It was lovely to see illustrations of the relationship between Adnan and his mum. The use of colour across the book was fantastic.

I would love to have this book available to the pupils in my classroom who have had to flee their home country. I also believe that it is a book that could help develop empathy among their peers.

A very moving tale of Adnan who is desperate to stir his depressed mother back into life. The fact it falls on a little boy’s shoulders- a boy who has already endured so much- is heart-wrenching. It is no wonder his mother is despairing as Adnan recounts their journey, and all its perils, to their new home.

There are so many displaced people, with horrific stories to tell and huge trauma. In Adnan, a spotlight is shone on one family and their desperate journey- by personalising the story, it might hit home harder with some people.

I liked the illustrations a lot and the use of colour particularly the switch to vibrant colours to mark the brighter days ahead.

This was absolutely heartbreaking but suffused with hope about finding the strength to overcome deep sadness and recover. An ideal book to share with pupils who are learning about the struggles of refugees to teach them about empathy and emotions.

Furthermore I found the illustrations incredible powerful as they conveyed the range of emotions so well…Positively stunning! 🤩

Heartfelt, beautiful story.
I think stories like this are a good way to stop and remember that children do endure heartache and trauma as well, regardless of what older generations think.

Adnan is the devastating story of a little boy and his mother who are refugees who lost everything. This one was hard for me, as I have a background working in mental health and I have small children of my own. The idea that the child bears the weight of the mother and his own trauma is a bit much for me to handle, but I know it is reality. An important story for a lot of kids in this world. The illustrations were lovely, but the people were a bit scary looking.

Sometimes items that are in the news; unsettling scenes, upsetting pictures and daily headlines of terror and innocent loss of life, fade from our normal responses. We feel helpless, personally unable to make a difference, to stop the killing, the indiscriminate destruction of lives, homes and communities.

A book such as this has so much value. It helps one to address any compassion fatigue and empathetical blindness. Without the need for emotive words and political dogma it tells a simple story.

You cannot help to be moved by the simplicity of the unfolding story and the stark and expressive illustrations.

Above all, you will be moved. You may well feel just as useless to change the plight of refugees but you will find your heart. It still pumps and is filled with compassion.

Hopelessness is replaced by hope.
Appreciation grows for those working in this field and an admiration for those struggling to find security and safety again.

We should also see that trauma has a debilitating hold on those who survive and mental health wellbeing isn’t like a switch.

I am grateful for those who work with refugees and brought this book together. It is a story that needs to be told and amid all the inhumanity of war and hatred it is good to be reminded of one’s own human nature.

A beautifully illustrated book with a hugely important message. Adnan and his mother have lost so much during the war in Syria, their displacement snd their traumatic journey to safety. Unsurprisingly once she is safe Adnan’s mother succumbs to depression. Adnan uses his love for her and his creativity to draw her back into their new reality and to build up hope for their future.

A message to all- to be kind and loving to people who have been through such trauma, grief and suffering to try and find a safe place to be.


Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC of this book to review.

Adnan: The boy who helped his mummy remember (Hardcover)
by Mark Arrigo

The story of over coming. A war has cost the family a lot. Adnan's mum has withdrawn. The book shows his living attempt to remind her of the strength she has given him. Great multicultural book, that is needed in schools as students are exposed to more and more refugee children from all over the world. It can show in first person the struggles and sadness of these moves. Being safe is not always easy to accept.

What a beautiful story of restoration of traumatic memories, and refugee families. I think that this is such a necessary story in this world today. I recommend Adnan to everyone young and old.

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for an ARC copy.

This heartbreaking and heartwarming story tells how Adnan and his mother go through so much, only for his mother to become trapped in depression. After his father and sister are killed in the war, Adnan and his mother flee. They are both brave, and Adnan's mother risks herself saving him from drowning.
Now that they are in their new home, Adnan must save her. He finds a way to help her remember who she is and they finally really start over.
Thanks to NetGalley for letting me read this

incredibly touching. Helps understand the tragedy of war and how it affects people, how it can change us. Heartbreaking yet with a message of hope and a certain tenderness.

I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to NetGalley and Quarto Publishing Group – Frances Lincoln Children's Books for providing me with this opportunity.

Adnan is a story about a young boy trying to find a way to help his mother through her depression after they barely escaped Syria alive to start a new life together in a foreign country.

Reading what Adnan does to try and understand and help his mother shows how much he loves her and cares for her. Using discarded materials, he repurposes them and tries to make her remember their life together before the bombs fell. Using his imagination he brings their town to life and even when his mother seems like she doesn't remember, Adnan tries and tries. When his mother discovers what her son did for her, you can see the moment in the beautiful illustrations where she realises she still has more to live for and still has her son who loves her very much.

This was a wonderful read, the illustrations were lovely, and I will definitely recommend this book to my friends with children.

As an adult, I thought this was a very heartwarming and sweet story. I’m not sure a child would understand this, and be able to pull the meaning out of it without more background information.

I wish I could make every member of Congress — especially the virulently anti-immigrant — read this fabulous picture book. Having suffered the loss of a husband and child and relentless indignities in fleeing war-torn Syria, Adnan’s mother has succumbed to horrible depression. Adnan takes it upon himself to strive to pull her out of it.

Adnan is old beyond his years because he has to be, like all immigrant children. You’ll remember him long after you’ve finished the last hope-inspiring page. This is a book to beguile young and old alike.

In the interest of full disclosure, I received this book from NetGalley. Quarto Publishing Group and Frances Lincoln Children's Books in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with this book in exchange for my review! All opinions are my own.

I thought this book was super charming and sweet and it shared many important life lessons that children need to know from an early age. This boy was so good to his Mama and I loved their relationship. I also thought the illustrations were lovely and imaginative. If I had a child, I would read them this book!

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We talk numbers and statistics, dollars and cents, opine on governments and politics, factions and ideologies, but at the core of international conflicts and social upheaval, are people. Families. Homes shattered by all of the above, and shattered every moment after by the survivors trying to carry on. I don't pretend to know the hardship, but I do know that this book, with these incredible images, wrecked me. This book about Syrian refugees, made me think of all the people, particularly children all over the world, that have lost any shred of mental peace even once the conflict pauses, or ceases. We have failed.
As for the book, it is beautiful, it is heart wrenching, it is moving, it is an important read, to share and discuss. I have no idea if this is glossing over how to reach someone with PTSD or is accurate, I do not know if it gives hope or oversimplifies, but it gives those of us of privilege, insight and pause and empathy. It is not the victims' responsibility to educate and convince, but being the book is based on a short film by activists and humanitarians who worked with refugees, I think it is ok to use it as a resource to remind us of our humanity, and let the creators know that they were successful in reaching our hearts. Forgive us.

What a beautiful book with heatbreaking and yet hopeful messages. I loved the illustrations, especially as they were illustrated by a Syrian. A story I will not be forgetting