Hope for Haiti

September 27, 2010
"When the earth shook and took away my neighborhood, I thought I would never be happy again," opens Watson's (I and I Bob Marley) touching story set in postearthquake Haiti. After the narrator and his mother assemble a shelter in a soccer stadium, the boy's spirits soar when he and other children play a spontaneous game of soccer with a ball made of rags. A kind man, who remembers watching Haitian soccer great Manno Sanon score goals in that same stadium, gives them a soccer ball that bears Sanon's autograph. When the children thank him, he replies, "Thank you for reminding me why there is hope for Haiti." In Watson's evocative, sunlit acrylic paintings, optimism radiates from the kids' faces. Though the makeshift village is almost too cheerful, Watson doesn't avoid the harsh realities of the disaster (an early scene shows a crowd jostling for food from U.N. peacekeepers), and his tropical palette underscores the hopeful nature of the book's message. As the children play beneath a brilliant aqua sky, their future feels bright indeed. Ages 5–8.

February 1, 2011

K-Gr 3-The young boy who narrates this story lives in a neighborhood that was destroyed by the 2010 earthquake. His family joins several others to set up makeshift housing in a soccer stadium. Before long, the children start playing soccer with a ball made of rags. Their high spirits in the face of disaster are rewarded when a man offers them a real soccer ball signed by Manno Sanon, a beloved Haitian player. Using concise but rhythmic language, this inspiring tale is told in a simple and straightforward manner. The pictures, acrylic paintings with bold colors and strong lines, are attractive and accessible but not especially distinctive. Edwidge Danticat's Eight Days: A Story of Haiti (Scholastic, 2010) is also about the earthquake, and it is more artistic but darker in tone. Some proceeds from both books are donated to relief efforts. Overall, this is a didactic but worthwhile book.-Lauralyn Persson, Wilmette Public Library, IL

Copyright 2011 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

December 15, 2010
Grades K-3 Set in the aftermath of Haitis catastrophic earthquake, this realistic picture book tells an elemental survival story through the experience of one boy who loses everything and then finds hope to carry on. Simple poetic words and generously sized acrylic paintings portray the sense of loss and desolation the boy feels as he helps his mother build a new home in the soccer stadium (One piece of tin. / Six posts. / Three sheets). He is too small to compete with other refugees when relief workers pass out limited supplies of food, and he witnesses devestating scenes of suffering. He has fun with other kids, though, kicking a soccer ball made of rags. Although a woman scolds them for their laughter, an aid worker gives them a new ball signed by a professional soccer player, and the final pictures show the boy imagining himself as a star on the field, scoring a goal in the future. Watson transcends the storys heavy messages with individual portraits that never deny the boys anguish, as well as his hope.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2010, American Library Association.)