The Home We Make

By Maham Khwaja, Daby Zainab Faidhi
Hardcover: $21.95

A moving story about a young girl and her family who are forced to flee their beloved home after violence erupts all around them, and their journey to make a new sense of home.

Description

One day someone asks me,
Where is home?
And I don’t know what to say.
Is home here or there?

Told from the perspective of a young refugee girl, debut children’s book author and New Voices winner Maham Khwaja tells the story of a family forced to flee their home due to violence. Emotive illustrations by Daby Zainab Faidhi balance the family’s love for one another and hope for the future with the harrowing journey to escape on foot, travel by boat, and then finally resettle in a safe place. Through it all, the young girl tries to hold on to all the pieces of her life before and find a way to rebuild a sense of home.

About the Creators

Maham Khwaja headshot: She has long, straight, brown hair and wears a checkered green and white vest in front of a leafy backdrop.
Maham Khwaja

Maham Khwaja is a Pakistani American writer and filmmaker. Maham has worked in feature film and network television production, as well as children's programming, including Sim Sim Hamara (Pakistan's Sesame Street). Currently, Maham is developing her first feature, Auntie Express, a story about a boisterous trio of Pakistani American aunties who run a successful food truck. The Home We Make marks her children's book debut. You can learn more about her at mahamkhwaja.com.

Daby Zainab Faidhi headshot
Daby Zainab Faidhi

Daby Zainab Faidhi is a versatile artist and illustrator acclaimed for her impactful work in animation, illustration, art direction, and painting. Her portfolio features contributions to award-winning film projects, including The Breadwinner, and most recently, co-art directing Merry Little Batman for WarnerBros. Explore her dynamic creations at zainabfaidhi.com.

Awards

  • New Voices Award Winner

    Lee & Low Books

Reviews

  • * "Written in verse, her powerful book captures both the terror of displacement and brief but meaningful moments of tenderness. Never shying away from the harsher details of migration, neither does she reduce the story to its trauma, creating a nuanced tale that will both inform those lucky enough to enjoy geographic stability and feel familiar to those who aren't. Popping with vivid colors, Faidhi's illustrations have a sweetness that tempers the story's bleaker moments. A moving and enlightening depiction of the refugee experience."

    - Kirkus Reviews
  • "Khwaja's heartfelt verses in some ways reflect her own experiences of moving from Pakistan to the U.S. as a six-year-old. . . . Faidhi's digital illustrations have a cinematic quality to them, not surprising from an animator of The Breadwinner. . . . A poignant look at the longing for home."

    - Booklist

Hardcover

  • ISBN 9781620149577
  • Price $21.95
  • Publication Date Oct 08, 2024
  • Trim Size 9.25 × 11 in
  • Weight 1 lbs
  • Page Count 48
  • Interests

  • Imprint Lee & Low Books
  • Audience Children
  • BISAC Category 1 JUV / Social Themes / Emigration & Immigration
  • BISAC Category 2 JUV / People & Places / Middle East
  • BISAC Category 3 JUV / Social Themes / Emotions & Feelings
  • Themes Courage, Cultural Diversity, Diversity, Empathy / Compassion, Families, Fiction, Home, Overcoming Obstacles, Persistence / Grit, Refugees, War
  • Reading Levels

  • Age Range Ages 5 - 10
  • Grade Range Grades K - 5
  • Guided Reading S
  • DRA 40
  • Bebop Reading Fluent
  • ADA Site Compliance-Accessibility Policy