The Roses in My Carpets

by Rukhsana Khan

Book Overview

For a young refugee living with loss and terror-filled memories, time is measured by the next bucket of water, the next portion of bread, and the next call to prayer. Here, where everything - walls,... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1550050699
• ISBN13: 9781550050691
• Release Date: September 2004
• Publisher: Fitzhenry & Whiteside
• Length: 32 Pages
• Weight: 0.15 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.1" x 8.2" x 10.4"
• Age Range: 6 to 8 years
• Grade Range: Grades 1 to 3

Customer Reviews

Great story

This is a great story for any age group. My eight year old son read this book and learned more about current events than the news could have ever taught him. I used this book in my tenth grade class room when we did a unit on picture books and changing the world and my students were prompted to plan a school wide "tolerance / compassion" day so that others could learn more about people around the world.

Great Book

Dealing with refugee children i must say this is a great book, it realy captures the heartache of the afgahni experience.

"It's always the same. The jets scream overhead."

"It's always the same. The jets scream overhead." is the powerful first line of this story that resonates even more forcefully in the wake of the September 11th attacks. The Roses in My Carpets is a masterful tale of a young Afghan refugee by Toronto writer Rukhsana Khan. It is based on a true story, that of the author's foster child in Peshawar, Pakistan. With the unfolding of historical events, it is probably destined to be a classic.Spare, grim and unsentimental, the story is a beautifully woven narrative of a young fatherless refugee boy caring for his mother and sister in a war-torn world. Symbolic of the loss of identity suffered by refugees, the boy remains nameless throughout the story. Movingly, he struggles to survive with his family within the sombre parameters that govern his universe. Escape finally arrives when he goes to his job as an apprentice carpet weaver. There he makes sure "there are plenty of roses in my carpets". As the story ends, hope surfaces in the young boy's dream of finding "a space, the size of a carpet, where the bombs cannot touch us."Ronald Himler's watercolour and pencil drawings look overwhelmingly familiar with the images that now flood our homes through television. I have read Roses to my four year old many times and she appreciated the opportunity to comprehend the devastating effect of war on families. I would highly recommend it to other parents and teachers.

A very poignant story about a child refugee

I think this is a great book for encouraging discussion of diversity in the classroom.In the school where I teach a lot of the children come from refugee backgrounds and this story was something they could really relate to. But the other kids could relate to it too.The imagery is powerful and the kids loved it.